162 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



Mr. F. E. Schofield, Dr. J. H. Spurgin, and Mr. J. W. Robinson. 

 In the early days of breeding blacks, when the bitches were 

 mated either with Sussex or liver and white Springers or 

 Norfolk Spaniels, many parti-coloured puppies necessarily 

 occurred, which most breeders destroyed ; but it occurred to 

 some of these gentlemen that a handsome and distinct variety 

 might be obtained by careful selection, and they have certainly 

 succeeded to a very great extent. The most famous names 

 among the early sires are Dr. Spurgin 's Alonzo and his son 

 Fop, and Mr. Robinson's Alva Dash, from one or other of 

 whom nearly all the modern celebrities derive their descent. 



Those who have been, and are, interested in promoting 

 and breeding these variety Spaniels deserve a large amount 

 of credit for their perseverance, which has been attended 

 with the greatest success so far as producing colour goes. 

 No doubt there is a very great fascination in breeding for 

 colour, and in doing so there is no royal road to success, which 

 can only be attained by the exercise of the greatest skill and 

 the nicest discrimination in the selection of breeding stock. 

 At the same time colour is not everything, and type and 

 working qualities should never be sacrificed to it. This has 

 too often been done in the case of coloured Field Spaniels. 

 There are plenty of beautiful blue roans, re*d roans, and 

 tricolours, whether blue roan and tan or liver roan and tan, 

 but nearly all of them are either cocktailed, weak in hind- 

 quarters, crooked-fronted, or houndy-headed, and showing far 

 too much haw. In fact, in head and front the greater number 

 of the tricolours remind one of the Basset-hound almost as 

 much as they do in colour. It is to be hoped that colour- 

 breeders will endeavour to get back the true Spaniel type 

 before it is too late. 



The points of both black and coloured Field Spaniels are 

 identical, bar colour, and here it must be said that black and 

 tan, liver and tan, and liver are not considered true variety 

 colours, though of course they have to compete in those classes, 

 but rather sports from black. The colours aimed at by 



