THE WATER-SPANIEL. 161 
The ears are set low, and lobular as in the Sussex, which dog 
he resembles in this point. 
The neck is moderately long, and rises from well-formed 
shoulders. 
Body.—The chest must be deep rather than wide, girthing well, 
nevertheless. Back and loin strong and well coupled. 
The length should be slightly more than twice the height. 
The legs should be long and muscular. Elbows, stifles, and 
hocks all in one plane. 
The feet are round and cat-like ; hairy between the toes, and 
with hard horny pads. 
The colour, by preference, is a jet black without white. In 
almost every litter, however, there are one or two true liver- 
coloured puppies. 
The coat is flat and wavy, soft and silky in texture. There is a 
good deal of feather, but no top-knot should be permitted. 
The tail is always cropped, but it must be carried below the back. 
In symmetry this spaniel excels those already described. 
VITIL—THE WATER-SPANTEL, 
In England what is called the water-spaniel is of a very 
indefinite character ; nearly all that can be said of him being, that 
he is a large, curly, liver-and-white spaniel, used for wild-fowl 
shooting. In Ireland, however, there are two varieties of this 
kind of dog, one chiefly known in the north and the other in the 
south. I shall begin by describing the Irish spaniel par excellence, 
viz., that used in the south. 
(A) THE IRISH WATER-SPANIEL. 
This breed attracted great notice in England about fifteen years 
ago, and several splendid litters were reared by Mr. Skidmore, 
Mr. Lindoe, Captain O’Grady, Mr. Willett, Mr. Robson, and 
others ; but of late, either from delicacy of constitution or some 
other cause, great difficulty has been experienced in rearing 
puppies, so that it is seldom that a specimen is exhibited at all 
coming up to the 1865-70 standard. Nor do the Irish themselves 
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