THE RETRIEVERS. 



265 



recalling as she does many a rollicking, youth- 

 ful day over her master's farms with the 

 younger Joseph, when she invariably con- 

 tributed largely to the bag. 



In recent years Mr. F. P. Barnett's 

 Stag has often surprised a shooting party 

 by his wonderful finds where all the other 

 dogs had failed. The Hon. A. Holland 

 Hibbert was, I think, the first to run pure 

 Labradors at the field trials, 

 and with success ; Munden Sen- 

 try, M. Single, M. Sandfly, and 

 M. Something all having done 

 well. But the most conspicu- 

 ous performer hitherto is Mr. 

 J. M. Portal's Flapper, a 

 worthy son of Stag, who in a 

 stake of twenty competitors at 

 the Kennel Club trials of 1907 got 

 second, and shortly afterwards 

 second in a stake of seventeen 

 at the International. The suc- 

 cess of these dogs will, no 

 doubt, induce other owners to 

 patronise the trials. 



In his " Book of the Dog " 

 Mr. Vero Shaw mentions that 

 in 1876 or '77, Dr. Bond Moore 

 showed him a pair of Retriever 

 puppies of pale golden colour. 

 In " British Dogs " Hugh Dal- 

 ziel confirms the statement, adding that 

 they were out of Midnight, a black bitch of 

 Labrador breed. It is abundantly evident 

 that the early Retrievers were by no means 

 fixed in colour, and this is attributed by many 

 writers more or less to the Labrador blood. 

 Black has always been the prevailing colour 

 of Labradors. It is interesting, therefore, 

 to find in this connection that there is a 

 breed of yellow Labradors at the present 

 day in the possession of Captain Radcliffe, 

 at Wareham. They are not to be confused 

 with the yellow Retrievers we have had for 



long enough on the borders, but are pure 

 Labradors, bred and selected with great care. 

 I am told that their working qualities are 

 also of the best. 



How can I better finish this short article 

 than by quoting Scott's beautiful "Eloge" 

 on the sporting Newfoundland, in " British 

 Field Sports " ? " One of the most blameless 

 and good-natured of animals, neither the 



MR. j. M. 



BY MR. F. 



PORTAL'S FLAPPER 

 B. BARNETT'S STAQ- 



-BETSAY. 



natural nor intentional enemy of any other. 

 On the contrary, instinctively and volun- 

 tarily the friend of all, seeking every occa- 

 sion to assist and oblige, and in his attach- 

 ment to human nature equal even to the 

 Spaniel and inferior to him only in the 

 qualifications of a courtier. To finish the 

 strictly well-merited eloge of this wonderful 

 brute, where are we, whether among bipeds 

 or quadrupeds, to find his superior for kind- 

 ness of heart, susceptibility of attachment, 

 voluntary industry, and proffers of service, 

 courage, fortitude and perseverance ? " 



THE CHESAPEAKE BAY DOG 



MAY be conveniently noticed at this coast, where wild duck abound. It is one 



point, since it is essentially a Retriever of the few breeds " invented " by our 



bred and developed for work with the American cousins. There is a tradition 



gun, and mainly used on the Atlantic that it originated from a dog or dogs rescued 



34 



