198 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



Perhaps the best working breed of spaniels now is that liver- 

 and-white race that has been for 100 years in the family of the 

 late Sir Thomas Boughey, once Master of the Albrighton 

 hounds. But more evidence is to be found that the Sussex 

 spaniels were not originally liver-coloured. This is the fact 

 that to the present time those with any Rosehill blood occasion- 

 ally produce what is called a sandy puppy, which is practically 

 the colour original to the Irish setter, the spaniel as described 

 by the Suffolk Sportsman in 1776, and the spaniel as now 

 found in America. 



From the shooter's standpoint the source of origin does not 

 matter much. But what matters is how the various present- 

 day races or crosses can work. 



Since the establishment of field trials for spaniels, every 

 sort has been seen in public work, and their positions have been 

 as clearly defined as any sportsman wanting information could 

 desire. At first a clumber called Beechgrove Bee distanced all 

 competitors. She was light-made for her race, and had a narrow 

 head and rather pointed nose. 



Next to her to assume command was Mr. Gardner's Tring, 

 a liver-and-white springer ; and about the same time a curly dog 

 called Lucky Shot did very well, but was rather short of nose. 

 He has since been called an English water spaniel, but it is 

 doubtful whether he was less of a springer, or Norfolk spaniel, 

 than Tring, except by reversion a little more to the curly 

 ancestors of both. But all these dogs were thrown into the 

 shade by Mr. Eversfield's black dog with a white chest, named 

 Nimrod, which carried all before him at the 1904 trials, and 

 would probably have done the same again in 1905 had it not 

 been for the presence of a liver-and-white dog of Sir Thomas 

 Boughey's breeding, also belonging to Mr. Eversfield. The 

 spaniels above named have stood out from all competitors at 

 the time of their prime, and none others have done so. Their 

 type of formation has all been the same except in the 

 case of the clumber. That is, they have been neither long nor 

 low, but short-backed and active, with legs at least as long as 

 the dogs were deep through the heart. Although one of them 



