The Irish Setter 171 



Hutchinson's Bob was a red and white bitch in the Misses Ledwidge's 

 kennels, a fact not mentioned by Captain Hutchinson or by Mr. Knox, 

 ■who owned a brother to Bob. 



What seems to be very clearly demonstrated is that the setter in Ireland 

 at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and for fifty years after that, 

 was much in the same condition as the setter in England, where owners 

 bred along lines of their own fancy and created strains. Finally, with the 

 advent of dog shows and the opportunities for comparison, came the process 

 of concentration on the best looking and most attractive dog, with the 

 dropping out of the others. 



In Lee's " Modern Dogs " (London, 1893), there is a long communication 

 from Mr. W. C. Bennett, of Dublin, "who has made this variety a hobby." 

 Mr. Bennett in turn obtained his information of old times from Mr. Mahon, 

 of Galway, then eighty years of age; from Mr. John Bennett, of King's 

 County, and from Mr. John G. King, also of King's County. There is 

 nothing very new in the information given. All agree that at an early date 

 the parti-coloured red and white dog, or more properly speaking the white 

 and red dog, was not only more numerous, but a better field dog. The 

 evidence given regarding the O'Connor strain is that it was red. Mr. King 

 states that a gamekeeper once brought him a self-coloured dog as a rarity. 

 Mr. King also states that the ladies Mr. Laverack mentions as the Misses 

 Ledwidge were the Misses Ledwell, though it was sometimes erroneously 

 pronounced Ledwich. He further states that he saw Miss Ledwell shortly 

 after the visit of Mr. Laverack, who, she said, wanted to take her dog to 

 England to cross with his strain, but she refused to lend or sell the dog. 



The Early Show Setters 



Of the early Irish setters we know by name in connection with shows 

 the most prominent was Captain Hutchinson's Bob, a wide fronted, thick 

 shouldered dog, and described on one page by "Idstone" as a Suffolk cart- 

 horse and cumbrous, and a little farther on as "good all over, formed in 

 exact proportion, and with substance as well as symmetry." The reader 

 can make his choice as to which description may be correct. His colour 

 was perfect and he was free from white. Soon after that Mr. Macdona 

 brought out Plunket at the field trials and did great things with him. 



The best description of this famous dog is from the pen of " Idstone," 



