142 DOMESTICATED DOGS. 
alike. His celebrated “Countess” was of this colour, but her 
brother and sister were black and white in large patches. It is 
not, however, denied that his strain were very much inbred, and 
by carefully selecting dogs with a strong tendency to natural 
point, his breed showed the same condition of the nervous system, 
and would, like the Frenchman’s pointer, fall into attitude at 
the “toho.” Unfortunately this close breeding produced a great 
many idiots and delicate constitutions, and if only a Laverack 
puppy had his senses, his limbs of good formation, and escaped 
the ills of teething, distemper, &c., he was sure to be a good dog 
in the field when well broken, but he required a deal of this, being 
naturally wild and headstrong. 
Soon after the introduction of field trials the Laverack setter 
attained a very high reputation. chiefly founded on the perform- 
ances of “Countess” and her sister “ Nellie,” aided to some extent 
by the result of the cross between the Laverack blood and the 
strains of Mr. Paul Hackett of Newcastle, Mr. W. Lort (the well- 
known judge), Mr. Wittington, Sir Bellingham Graham, and Mr. 
Statter. Mr. Purcell Llewellyn has spent a great deal of time 
and money in carrying on the “selection of the fittest” for 
breeding purposes, and has produced a strain which he calls the 
“field trial” breed, composed of lines from all the above sources, 
and which has been fairly successful in this country as well as in 
America. Commencing with Laverack bitches purchased at vari- 
ous times, he crossed them with Mr. Statter’s “Dan,” which dog 
he purchased at the Shrewsbury field trials of 1871, together with 
his brother ‘“‘ Dick,” after performing there marvellously well in 
the stake for the best brace. On the whole, it may be said that 
the Laverack setter has attained a higher reputation during the 
last fifteen years than any other English setter; but I very much 
question whether it was equal to some other breeds, such as Sir 
Bellingham Graham’s, Sir Vincent Corbett’s, Mr. Wittington’s, 
Mr. Paul Hackett’s, Mr. W. Lort’s, and some others whose names 
escape my memory. I have myself possessed one or two setters 
superior even to “Countess,” and one bitch quite as fast, with a 
better nose ; while out of a litter I bred from her, two dogs turned 
out A-1 in all but pace, which certainly was not equal to that of 
their mother. But Mr. Laverack was lucky in getting “ Countess ” 
