THE SPORTING SPANIEL. 



289 



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 



there is, as I have often been told, 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. 



I am bound to state as 

 my deliberate opinion, that 

 this has been done in the 

 case of coloured Field 

 Spaniels. There are plenty 

 of beautiful blue roans, red 

 roans, and tricolours, 

 whether blue roan and tan 

 or liver roan and tan, but 

 nearly all of them are either 



MRS. E. C. ROWSE'S 



CH. TRUMPINGTON DORA 



BY COLESHILL CLIMAX TRUMPINGTON 



DONNA. 



or other of whom nearly all the 

 modern celebrities derive their 

 descent. A granddaughter of 

 Alva Dash named Coleshill Mag- 

 pie, the property of Mr. J. Smith, 

 has probably been the most suc- 

 cessful brood bitch ever known 

 in this variety, as the following 

 winners at important shows 

 during the last decade are all descended 

 from her : Coleshill Red Girl, Coleshill 

 Span, Coleshill Constance, Coleshill Climax, 

 Kempston Clytemnestra, Kempston Cameo, 

 Welsh Joseph, Briton Still, Trumpington 

 Dax, Trumpington Dora, Chesterton Gay 

 Bess, and Shillington Rona. 



Those who have been, and are, interested 

 in promoting and breeding these variety 

 Spaniels no doubt 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 



37 



MR. ROBERT PRATT'S TRUMPINGTON DAX 

 BY COLESHILL CLIMAX TRUMPINGTON DONNA. 



cocktailed, weak in hindquarters, 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. I hope that 

 colour-breeders will endeavour to get back 

 the true Spaniel type before it is too 

 late. I am not alone in this dislike of 

 the present type of coloured Field Spaniel. 

 Only a very short time ago one of the 

 oldest breeders and judges of Spaniels, 

 and one of the pioneers of this particular 



