274 The Dog Book 
Captain Brown’s description, published in 1829, is as follows: ‘The 
large water spaniel is about the size of an ordinary setter, but much stronger 
in the bone and shorter in the legs. His head is long and his muzzle mod- 
erately acute; his face is quite smooth, as well as the front of his legs; his 
ears are long, which, together with his whole body, is covered with deep 
hair, consisting of firm, small and distinctly crisped curls, not unlike those 
of a wig; his tail is rather short and clothed with curled hair. His hair 
is very differently curled from the great water dog and poodle [this poodle 
he calls also the smaller water dog], as that of the two latter consists of 
long and pendulous curls. His general colour is a dark liver brown, with 
white legs, neck and belly; and is sometimes though rarely to be met with 
all black or with a black body and white neck and legs.” What “deep 
hair” is we are at a loss to explain. 
The foregoing should be compared with Mr. McCarthy’s description, 
given in 1859. “In the North the dog has generally short ears without any 
feather, and is very often a pied white and brown colour; in the South 
the dog is of a pure liver colour, with long ears, and well curled, with short, 
stiff curls all over the body. The present improved and fancy breed, 
called McCarthy’s breed, should run thus: Dogs from twenty-one to twenty- 
two and a half inches (seldom higher when pure bred), head rather capacious, 
forehead prominent, face from eyes down perfectly smooth, ears from 
twenty-four to twenty-six inches from point to point. The head should 
be crowned with a well-defined topknot, not straggling across like the 
common rough water dog, but coming down in a peak on the forehead. 
The body should be clothed with short, crisp curls, which often become 
clogged in the moulting season. The tail should be round, without 
feather underneath, rather short, and as stiff as a ramrod; the colour of 
a pure puce liver, without any white.” 
Captain Brown, after stating that he is not very useful for setting, but 
an excellent wild-fowl dog, concludes with this remark: ‘The native 
country of this dog is Spain; but we conceive that the variety we possess, 
which is a very distinct one, is not the pure breed as originally imported 
into this country, but that it is the produce of the large water dog and the 
English setter, as it appears to be intermediate between them, not only in 
figure, but also in their united qualities.” 
The speculation of the Captain can be taken for what it is considered 
worth, but we must not overlook his statement of fact, that the variety 
