276 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



it is rather hard to understand how they 

 came to fall into such disfavour as to be 



MR. HARRY JONES' 

 DIVING BELL 

 BY SAILOR NELL. 



MR. F. WINTON SMITH'S 

 BEECHGROVE WILD- 

 FLOWER 



BY BEECHGROVE MIL- 

 LARD BEECHGROVE 



LASS. 



allowed to become 

 almost extinct until 

 a small and select 

 band of enthusiasts 

 set to work a few 

 years ago to try to 

 resuscitate the 

 breed. At the com- 

 mencement of the 



dog-showing epoch it is true that a few 

 specimens were shown annually, the best 

 of these being probably Mr. Phineas Bui, 

 lock's Rover (K.C.S.B. 2,264), born in 1863. 

 This dog had a wonderful show career, win- 

 ning first prize at Birmingham in 1866, 

 1868, 1870, 1873 ; at the Crystal Palace 

 in 1871 and 1872 ; at Manchester in 1865 ; 

 and the Gold Medal at Paris the same year. 

 Mr. James Farrow, probably the ablest 

 authority on show Spaniels of the present 

 day, declares that Rover was the best 

 Spaniel of this variety he ever saw, but his 

 daughter, Flo (K.C.S.B. 2,256) can have been 



but little, if any, inferior. She was bred by 

 Mr. Bullock, but passed into the posses- 

 sion of Captain Arbuthnot, and won 

 first prize at the Crystal Palace in 

 1870 ; at Birmingham in 1869, 1870, 

 1871, 1872 ; and at Nottingham in 

 1873 a record almost as good as that 

 of her sire. 



After the first few years, however, 

 exhibitors seemed to lose all interest 

 in the breed, and entries became fewer 

 and fewer, until at last they reached 

 vanishing point, and shows ceased to 

 provide special classes for English 

 Water Spaniels. The entries in the 

 Stud Book fell off in the same man- 

 ner until in 1886 they disappeared 

 altogether ; and 

 although in the 

 following year 

 two were en- 

 tered, the sec- 

 tion devoted to 

 "Water Spaniels 

 other than 

 Irish" remained 

 blank till 1903. 

 For a year or 

 two previously a 

 few gentlemen. 



MR. HARRY JONES' 

 THE CHORISTER 



BY WYCLIFFE COUNT SONGSTRESS 



