July 27, 1882.] 



FOREST AND STREAM! 



611 



MR. J. G. HECKSCHER'S CHAMPION POINTER BITCH "LADY DUFFERIN." 



LADY DUFFERIN. 



WE give this week an excellent picture of the" champion 

 pointer bitch Lady Duff u-in, Owned by Mr. Jolin G. 

 Hec :scher, of New York. She is four years old and is by 

 Goiden's Dash out of Howsoa's Fan. She has 

 the bench four times — once as a puppy, at New V. irk. in 1879, 

 when she was awarded an fee; in l-M. at the New York show, 

 she was placed second in a very good class: at the. last New 

 York show she won first in the open class and the special for 

 the best pointer do j or bitch; at Boston, last Slay, 

 m the champion class. Lad- DufTerin is lemon and white, of 

 small size, and one of the best formed and most gamy look- 

 ing animals that we have ever seen. At the New York show 

 of 1881 we expressed the opinion that ii she -wet© BhOwn in 

 proper condition she 8 would make it very warm tor her 

 competitors. This year she came out'm grand form and fche 

 prediction was abundantly verified. At the Boston show she 

 was in as good condition as we have ever seen an animal 

 shown, and. ftlfcuou %i> sac in it the beautiful Clytic, she carried 

 off the honors in the champion class. At our re< 

 attendant too< her out and cut her loose on the common, 

 We. were alreadv more than lull' in love with the little ladv 

 for her good look-, and she completely won our heart with 

 her graceful movements and wonderful speed. She is now 

 in the h mds of Predmore training for the fall C imp 

 should she go all right we shall have something more to say 

 Of her after the iislcl trials are over. The cut is by Harry 

 Tallman. 



GORDONS AND BLACK AND TANS. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



In your issue of May 4, your correspondent, Harry Malcolm, 

 Esq., inquires in which edition of Stonehen je I find the state- 

 ment that the Gordon setter has unquestionably been crossed 

 with the bloodhound. He also takes exception to my calling 

 the Gordon a mongrel, In reply to his inquiry I would state 

 that 1 do not remember seeing the statement in any one of 

 his editions, but in One of his letters on "setters, English, 

 Scotch and Irish," published in the London Field, and in this 

 country in the Rod and Glm, the daie of which I neglected to 

 take when I reserved the letter for my scrap book. In my 

 last I did not quote his language in full as 1 wished to save as 

 much space as possible, I therefore usedthe word unquestion- 

 able '80 as to cover his proofs that the Gordon was. a c ith 

 the bloodhound, but now I will use. his exact words: "It is said, 

 and 1 think probably with truth, that the- Scotch or Gordon set- 

 ter is crossed with the bloodhound, which 



tively heavy head a 

 and at the same time 

 for the coarseness of 

 he believes him to be 

 to prove his assert ion 



food black and tan Ii 

 x ield that "the 



i long fold ins; ears often shown by him, 

 accounts for the delicacy of his nose and 

 lis coat." Here he not only states that 

 a cross OT mongrel, but he gives points 

 . He states in his works that there are 

 ish setters, and tn his letter to the London 



; many black and tans which are not 



Gordons, and a similar reniaek may apply to the Irish setter, 

 but he has not been treated in the same way, though, no 

 doubt, a red setter of English blood without any Irish blood, 

 if exhibiting the desired points in perfection., would win in any 

 Irish class. I must however, take things as I find them, and 

 describe the setter according to the definition given in out' prize 

 list." Now he goe3 on to describe the different dogs, English, 

 Irish and Scotch or Gordon, which description is taken both 

 in this country and n England as a standard tor jue _ 

 by. His description of the G ordon shows that he is a mongrel, 

 according to his opinion this is the dog to which prizes are 

 given and not to the light weight English black and tan or 

 the Ii ish black and tan. 



A great many persons are of the opinion that Lord Gordon 

 was the originator of the black and tan setters, and from the 

 tone of Mr. Malcolm's letter, I should suppose he is one of 

 thsse. If so, he is entirely mistaken as I can prove. The 

 Forest and Stream of Au just, issii, published extracts from 

 an old English work on the dog, written in Latin and trans- 

 lated into English in la76. This work speaks of blackish and 

 reddish land' spaniels. Now, I think in this our day, we 

 would call this ''blackish and reddish," black and tan, and 

 what is the land spaniel but the ancestor of the English setter. 

 Symon's Suffolk, spo.tsman, lfo'.i, says that fifty years before 

 there were two distinct types Of setters, the black and tan 

 and the orange or the lemon and wiute. This is a. 

 pedigree than Gordon for the black and tan. •-.Frank For- 

 ester" grades black and tun among English setters, and ho 

 condemns the Scotch setter as a mongrel, Hisw 

 published before show benches w -■ ashed, therefore, 



ho cannot be accused ot prejudice, because Gordons received 

 prizes at the bench .hows. Hawker, on the same 

 Scotch setter) says there exists little or no difference bet? 

 this and the En dish species eithe • in their apjearanBa or in 

 their disposition; in fact they may bs considered as the same 

 identical variety further deteriorated by crossing with the 

 pointer and sometimes with the fox hound. 



Stonehenge, in his -'British Rural Sooi'ts," in describing tin- 

 Gordon states that the stern is shorter than that of the Eng- 

 lish, or if longer, it has a decided tendency to show the tea- 

 pat form, than which nothlns is mora u dy; this is probably 

 derived from the collie Cross, Which, I have no doubt, has 

 been used in soma strains. In this work he takes his own 

 dog Rep as a perfect specimen with a perfect flag, This liep 

 is the son of Kent, which was considered the great Gordon, 

 in fact, the one which went further to advance the Gordon 

 than any black and tan dog in England. Stonehenge owned 

 his son, and yet this dog was not a pure black and tan. Kent 

 may have been a pure setter, but a pure Gordon is another 

 thing, I will now take the pedigree of this dog which gives 

 so much credit to the Gordon setter as if he had been a 



Gordon. Kent, black and tan, Shot, black and tan, Scamp, 

 Sir Matthew Ridley's liver and tan. Now. is this liver and 

 tan a Gordon? Indeed. I doubt if the Duke of Gordon bred 

 any one of his strain; in fact, all the evidence we have goesto 

 show that he did not breed black and tan at all, but simply 

 kept them so as to cross with his black and white to breed 

 black, white and tan. Mr. Dixon states positively that the 

 original Gordons were black and white and tan, and Mr. 

 says l hat th»v were black, white and tan, and that 

 in !->:;<; t'n c keeper showed him three black and tans which he 

 thought nothing of. and of the eleven dogs sold belonging to 

 fche Duke's k< onel, there was but one black and tan. This 

 broughi thirty-four guineas, and a black, white and tan 

 seventy-two guineas, a black fi'tv-six guineas, and a red and 

 white pup thirty-five guineas. The rest were black and white 

 or black, white and tan, the only black and tan bringing the 



I bis evidence will show that the Duke was not a breeder of 

 black and tan dogs and yet your correspondent, Mr. Malcolm, 

 si ates that he has pure Gordons and light weight at that, and 

 wants to know what became of all the light weight Gordons, 

 as though it was the light weight which was the prize winner. 

 He forgets that Kent and all the first prize winners were 

 powerful, well-built dogs, and in size and form had more ot 

 the Irish tvpe, than the dogs called Irish have to-day; it 

 would not" do to call this dog Irish, the rich and aristo- 

 cratic dog sellers marked the Irish a red, and a name had to 

 be found for the black and tan, which would sell better if he 

 had a title. The next thing was to make a separate class for 

 him and the standard a rich black with a brillant red. This 

 settled the question of the setter, and a worthless mongrel 

 commenced to receive prizes — they were advertised as prize 

 winners and good bitches bred to them, and thus was the 

 pure dog ruined. Kent and the other black and tan which 

 received prizes at the first shows were no doubt good dogs, 

 for they had to contend against setters for the prizes and not 

 against mongrels. The first black and tan exhibited were 

 Irish setters or bred so near to the black and tan Irish that 

 he had most of the good qualities of that dog, and this has 

 been proven to be the case. Vero Shaw states that the black 

 and tan setter has unquestionably been crossed with the 

 Irish, probably to increase the brillancy of the tan, hence the 

 appearance in many Utters of liver colored whelps. It was 

 not, to improve the brilliancy of the tan, but the red liver 

 Irish setter was the most valuable, and when opportunity 

 offered the black and tan bitches were bred to the liver 

 dogs. 



Now, to sum up the subject, I think I have shown by 

 authority and facts that there is no such dog as the Scotch 

 setter— that the setters in that country are either English or 

 Irish, and such as differ from either of these are mongrels; 

 that the Duke of Gordon did not breed black and tan dogs, 

 but black, white and tau; that there is no such dog as a light 

 weight Gordon setter, since the dogs first called Goi dons were 

 all powerful uo-zs. v.- hick is the reason that the standard for 

 Gordons is as it is— a heavy breed without the points of the 

 setter: that belore the word "Gordon" was applied to dogs 

 (."i.e. v-cre good bifl.ck and tan English and Irish setters, and if 

 a Scotchman possesses one of cither he has no right to make 

 a reputation for Gordons or Scotch mongrels by calling them 

 Gordons. Mr. Malcolm may have, good and pure black and 

 tan setters; but I think it would be a hard matter for him to 

 prove that they were Gordons or that Gordon ever bred black 

 and tan dogs. 



What I am condemning is the Gordon dog as known by the 

 rules of the show bench, and not the black and tan setters. 

 Every owner of dogs likes to trace them to the kennel of some 

 English or Scotch nobleman, which accounts for the cadtng 

 of all black and tan dogs Gordons; and one dog, black and 

 tan, having received a prize as a dog coming from Gordon 

 kennel years back is considered sufficient for all the black 

 and tan to be called Gordons, and to allow a special class to 

 be made for that color, and all in the face of evidence which 

 shows it to be impossible to prove that Lord Gordon ever bred 

 a black and tan do? other than those which might come out 

 by crossing the black and tau with his black and white. 



Since Writing the above I have noticed a letter from Mr. 

 Davidson in vour issue of Mav 35 on Gordon setteis. He 

 . i-v highly of the Gordon, his good qualities, etc., 



- his own kennel as a -proof of these good qualities. 

 If Mr. D, did not wish to convey such an idea, why did he 

 mention his black and tan in connection with the Gordon 

 black and tan? He says they are not Gordons; then what 

 have their good qualifies, or his experience with them, to do 

 ;.-.-. ''I as I staled n rny previous letter, 

 that When a black and tan of pure setter blood showed good 

 qualities, the Gordou mongrels got the^ credit He says that 

 he bred them from a 

 think that Mr. Davids 

 liver color could not b 

 tan as a color, and if s 

 in the field as the blac 



well try to prove the 

 Gordon &s 



proveit.whathasnnT'-ishora half Irish settertodo w'thT nrd 

 Gordon or black and tan mon"~els called Scotch setters? Mr. 

 Malcolm states that he wants black and tan Gordons of IMit 

 weudit. and wants the standard to suit his kennel, which is 

 liHit weic-ht black and tan. This proves that h's do<™= are not 

 thp show-bench Gordon, but o -dina-v b'ack and tan English* 

 settee s. Mr. Davidson wants the Gordons to be larue* power- 

 ful dogs and does not want the rules altered; this suits his 

 kennel, which accord in " to his statement is not Gordon. 

 These "-entlemen know all about the Gordons and vet tliev dif- 

 fer widely as to the dog. Only upon one point do thev aoree, 

 and that is to try and keen mi the name of Gordon or Scotch 

 setters at the expense of the Irish, There is no wanner friend 

 of the black and tan setter than lam. and for this reason I 

 am opposed to prizes beint offered for them, in fact T am 

 opposed to making a class at all for color, each ddf should 

 stand on his merits and not on his color, and we would have 

 fewer mongrels black and tan, and red do"-s called Tish. 

 There should be rut two elates— English and Irish, and flpvS 

 should be entered in either class according to their race and 

 not acco"din"- to their co'or, A red do°- havm** the pomts of 

 an English setter should be. entered in the English class, and 

 a black and tan having che points of the Irish setter should 

 be. cntced in that class, color being left to the fancy of the 

 breeder. 



Mr. Davidson states that the name of Gordon for the Mack 

 and tan originated ot Gordon Castle. T do not think Mr. D. 

 can pro^e his assertion, for the name is like a myth, it would 

 be a difficult matter to sav where it did arise. There Is one 

 point which can be Woven and this is that the name has been 

 applied to many a big-headed mongrel with tail as lon~as his 

 pedigree and equallv as crooked, and as lope- as prize? are 

 awarded to such doo-s the public must expect bo be imposed, 

 upon, and the blood or the good dogs iniured. 



A. friend of mine and a lover of do^s, told me that he 

 visited a dog show at on" time, and that the judge in the Irish 

 setter class was a exeat Gordon setter admirer. He awarded 

 the prize to a certain dog to which mv friend and others 

 called his attention, the mongrel points of which stood out 

 prominent in the dear, and that there were much better 

 specimens on exhibition, whereupon this inte'lio-ent in rice 

 had his heart ideal and one or two dogs that mv friend pointed 

 out as finer specimens brought into a private room. "Now." 

 said <this Go'-don judge of Irish setters, "look at tin's fine 

 development of head forintelligence." Mv friend said "Look 

 at his small ears pricked up on the top of his head." when the 

 iudge remarked, "Damn the ears, they don't give the Hog in- 

 telligence." 



Now, with such iudsres what can we. exppet? I wi'l tfll 

 von. A friend of mine received a pup from the daughter of 

 this prize winner bv another prize winner, and when this pup 

 was raised, a,t a great deal of expense, and trouble, he was 

 sent to a professional breaker, for the owner could do nothing 

 with him. Some time after the breaker returned Iv'm with 

 the remark: "I will charge you nothing for mv trouble ; but 

 tell me where under heaven did he come from, for he is not 

 worth the powder that would kill him?" Such are the prize 

 winners and mongrels I would, have run out Of existence. 



I would have answered Mr. Malcolm's letter sooner, but 

 sickness in mv family prevented. "Will answer vour corre- 

 spondent "Subscriber," and describe the English and Irish 

 setters for him as soon as possible. Vttttp. 



N. B.— In mv last letter vou made several errors— "when 

 the net was in use in Ireland there was some reason to breed 

 for color;" you have it b^-as- for color. In reference to the 

 color of the' water spaniel it should read "brown pot liver- 

 colO^ed." vou have it brown and liver-colored. "Tho 1 nhill 

 mistakes the English settler for Irish, they no doubt called 

 them English spaniels:" vou have it English setter. The 

 Irish setter's name should be spelled Gaidhrin not Gai- 

 dhrim, and gudhar should be gaidhar. V. 



TBI and tan bitch. Now, I hardly 

 would be willing to state that the 

 preserved as well as the black and 

 that they would not be just as fine 



uid tan, 'and the orange and white 

 them. Mr. Davidson might just as 

 ood qualities of the black and tan 



ntion to the good qualities of some 



unel of black and tan pointers, as to mention his 

 dogs in connection with the Gordon. He says that his setters 

 •haractei'isties of the Gordons. I suppose he means 

 the good ones, and if so, I would like Mr. Davidson to point 

 out one good quantity that the best black and tan possesses 

 which flxe Irish has 'not. In fact, every good quality the 

 black and tan has, he received from the Irish setter, by being 

 either a pure Irish or so intimately crossed with the Irish, 

 that he is indebted to that dog entirely for his good points. 

 This being the case, and we have the strongest evidence to 



THE FIRST POINT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In almost everv week's issue of your paper I read of the 

 scarcity of the raffed grouse, and, as I have written before, I 

 think that a great many young are killed in July and Au<mst 

 oy woodcock hunters. " But I find that they have another 

 enemy, at least they have in this vicinity. 



Some weeks since, while out walking and giving my Irish 

 setter puppy (Daisy) a run. I discovered two grouse nests, . 

 both of which were within half a mile of the city. I watched 

 them with ca'-e, never going near the nest to disturb the bird 

 and not allowing the dog to do so. The number of egg's in- 

 creased daily until in nest No. 1 there were eisht, and in 

 No. 2 fifteen," and the old hens concluded that twenty -three 

 were enough and they would begin to hatch. How many 

 times I thought of these young birds and anticipated the 

 satisfaction I would have in seeing Daisy find them for the 

 ffst time in company with Don. of whom 1 will speak later. 

 "Don't count your' chickens or grouse before they are 

 hatched. " After the hens had been hatching about ten days 

 I thought I would visit the nests and see if they were all 

 right. 



It was a beautiful morning— one in which it seemed as if 

 the loveliness of an entire summer month had been concen- 

 trated. I approached nest No. 1, walked cautiously up. so 

 as nob to disturb the old hen, and at last was within ten 

 feet of the place, but cotdd see neither hen nor nest. I could 

 scarcely believe mv own eves. I thought I must hay r e made 

 some mistake in the location. I looked again. There was 

 the spring to the left, the old fence, the old cedar bush. I 

 concluded then that I must be some one else, and that "I was 

 not myself at all:" but as soon as I put my hand in my 

 pocket, found dog-whistle, shell-extractor, etc., and then 

 looked around and there was "dot leedle to-r Taisv," saying 

 with her eyes "what is the matter with you?" I knew I was all 

 right. I walked up to where the nest had been, and it was 

 all clear to me then. Some miserable scamp had been there, 

 shot or killed the old hen, and destroyed the nest. To say 

 that I was angry don't half express it:* and although I have 

 always acted on the principle iwhen there was any fight'ng 

 to be done) that a live coward is better than a dead hero, I 

 think on this occasion that I w'ould have bid farewell to every 

 fear and boldly waded in to that scoundrel. 



I then started for nest No. 2, expecting to find it in the same 

 condition, and was not disappointed, except that the old hen 

 had managed to escape; at least there was no evidence of her 

 having been killed. 1 have offered a reward of S10 for any 

 information that "wdH lead to the conviction of the parties. 

 We have a class of bad boys in this city who prowl around 

 the woods, set fire to fences, and rob the nests of ali the birds 

 they can find; and if this is their wort I am satisfied that 

 they can discount the work of foxes, skunks, squirrels and all. 



Having had such bad luck with my grouse nest, I thought I 

 would see what 1 could find in the way of woodcock. At 3:30 

 I took in a friend, Charlie, and alter a pleasant drive of three 

 miles we arrived at the swamp. And now a word about 

 Don. He is a native English setter, blacs and white, tin ee 

 years old, weighs about sixty pounds, and all who know hi m 

 call him Old Reliable. In the field trials where, from the 

 reports we receive of them, speed wins instead of nose, I 

 don't think he would be mentioned, but for an all day, week 

 in and out, cover and open snooting, he is a first-class dog. 

 Docile as a lamb, staunch as a rock, and when he makes a 

 point you can venture your pile on him and win every time, 

 His keenness of scent is very remarkable. (This is no adver- 

 tisement for Don, as he is not for sale.) 



This swamp is one in which we are almost sure of finding 

 from one to three pair nesting every year. This year, how- 

 ever, it is almost entirely under water fiom the heavy rains, 

 and I fear that some of the old birds have been driven out by 

 the high water. We had walked over about half of it with- 



V 



