Jan. 15, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



§19 



of Nov. 30, and which I had not read, If not too late to 

 attend the funeral, will you permit me space in your columns 

 to answer "Gothamite," so far as bisletter refers to me, and 

 to his criticisms of my judging at Toronto. He remarks, "I 

 never saw spaniels nudged so badly as at Toronto by Mr. 

 Oldham," and then goes on, "His worst of all very bad mis- 

 takes was putting Bambo first in any other color dogs, and 

 sending out unnoticed a very good, though oversized dog, 

 Rufus." This is/indeed, kind' of "Gothamite," defending my 

 decisiou in that class. He also approves of my placing of 

 Idea, praising her as a beautiful-bodied bitch. Again he 

 says, "A hardly used dog at Toronto was Brock, a dog pretty 

 close to the limit in weight, eta ; that had he been in decent 

 condition, should have been first or second." "Gothamite" 

 does not say what he should have got, shown in such bad 

 condition. And so it goes on, not knowing exactly what he 

 is writing about, having a grievance against somebody and 

 not knowing how to take it out of them. Poor fellow, 

 under Masou's attack he may well wish he had been more 

 master of his subject before attempting to teach men like 

 Mason. Watson, etc., who have forgotten more about 

 spaniels than he ever knew. 



I myself have shown quite a number of dogs during the 

 last few years. I never knew any of the men who are on the 

 Spaniel Club list of judges to favor the long and low cocker. 

 A judge has, to a certain extent, to favor a dog who, though 

 a little too long in body, has a typical head or some other 

 good ooint; but lam certain Messrs. Mason, Wilmerding, 

 Watson and many others would no more think of putting 

 Miss Obo II. over a. similarly constructed cocker with a 

 shorter body, than would a Clumber spaniel judge think of 

 puttiug Johnnie over Bromine. 



In conclusion, I have to thauk those friends and exhibi- 

 tors who so warmly supported me by their entries at To- 

 ronto, and I cau assure "Gothamite" that when such men 

 as Bush, Laidlaw, Nelles, Kirk and other ^veil-known span- 

 iel men thought sufficiently well of my judging to congratu- 

 late me on my debut, I am not likely to bother much over 

 any criticisms from the pen of one ashamed to sign nfs 

 name, but covering his tracks by a nom do plume. 



E. M. Oldham. 



New York, Jan. 6. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Under the above caption Mr. Mason states in last week's 

 issue that champion Doc is now owned by Mr. F. H. F, 

 Mercer. Also that Boc was not for competition at the last 

 New York show, as "he was afraid of Jersey," etc. Now I 

 wish to state plainly, first, that Doc is not, never was, and 

 probably never will be, owned by Mr. Mercer. Be is my 

 personal property and will continue so, unless I am offered 

 a much larger figure that was ever before paid for spaniel 

 tlesb. Second, the reason he did not compete at New York 

 last spring was, because it is against all ethics of dog judg- 

 ing for a judge to permit his own dogs to come before him in 

 competition. This is the sole reason of his not competing. 

 I officiated at New York, and the dog in consequence was 

 for exhibition only. 



He will go the rounds this spring, however, and will take 

 in the large shows as they come. How Mr. Mason could 

 have fallen into this error in regard to the ownership of Doc 

 I cannot see, unless it was from hearing that Mr. Mercer had 

 made me an offer for the dog, which was refused. 



A. Clinton Wilmekdvng. 



THE FLOUR CITY KENNELS. 



Editor Vorcnt and Stream: 



A short article in the Democrat and Chronicle, of this 

 city, some weeks since, announcing the establishment of the 

 Flower City Kennels and giving some notes on dogs, led me 

 to look the kennels up and inspect the clogs. So the other 

 day, accompanied by a physician well known in the city, 

 who aspires to become a member of "dogdom" — as H. W. L. 

 aptly puts it— we visited the kennels, which are located on 

 the Jlats, east of State, street, reached from the vicinity 

 of the R.. W. and O. depot. On coming in sight of the build- 

 ings we discerned a mastiff looking between the palings 

 from one of the exercise yards, and a pointer and Irish setter 

 disporting themselves near the house where the genial 

 keeper "Abe" Geis resides. Almost before we had an oppor- 

 tunity to knock, Mr. Geis appeared at the door, accompanied 

 by two Irish setters and a pointer bitch; we inquired if we 

 might inspect the kennels. The favor was readily granted. 

 We first looked over the dogs which had come out when 

 "Abe" opened the door, also another pointer bitch which 

 Mr. Geis called out when he went into the house to get his 

 coat. 



The pointers were Lady Cora, a lemon and white, who 

 was evidently well bred, and was said to be of Sensation 

 stocky and Fly, a liver and white, we were informed is from 

 Dick Swi veller stock: she is not so fine as Cora, but has more 

 style. 



The Irish boys were Bel ford, imported last June, whose 

 pedigree we did not learn, but whose color and carriage, to 

 say nothing of his other good points, proclaimed him to be 

 a good one; and Shot, who comes from the Elcho strain, 

 while not so fine as Relford, is a rich dark mahogany in 

 color, looks like an all-day worker in the field, which "Abe" 

 declares he is, and is fit for very good company. 



We then saw a fairish looking pointer pup, about eight 

 months old, but neglected to note his name or pedigree. 



Wo were met at the gate to the kennels proper by the 

 mastiff bitch Lady Caution; she is certainly a good one, but 

 we do not care to pose as a judge of this breed, so will pass 

 to the next gate, where we were met by a mastiff bitch 

 whose peculiar markings made us. as we caught a glimpse 

 of her stem through the fence, take her for a great Dane; 

 she is a dark brindle iu color and very massive in propor- 

 tions, but in spite of her off color "A be" says her pups are 

 always the regulation color. Her name is Princess. 

 Through the next fence looked two mastiff faces, although 

 the wrinkle in the oldest was markedly wanting. They 

 were, Faix and Black Sail, the latter a seven months pup of 

 some promise. Faix is a very light fawn in color, with 

 almost entire absence of dark markings, she is a very rangy 

 beast and looked powerful and agile. 



We then went into the building and from one of the stalls 

 Abe brought Lady Pamelia, who he said was a daughter of 

 Minting, and Judge, who we were informed is by a son of 

 Beaufort. We had the pleasure of meeting Minting on the 

 bench and must say- that in our humble opinion Lady Pame- 

 lia shows many good points, yea, is even worthy of her sire, 

 and Judge is a mastiff clear through. The keeper then 

 showed us two more Irish boys, Mink and Rover, both Elcho 

 stock and both very good ones. 



Abe now told us to stand close to the wall, and he opened 

 a door at. one end of the reception room— which is also the 

 kitchen- when out rushed a number of pointers and a brace 

 of cocker pups. We tried to count the pointers, but they 

 moved in such a lively manner that we had to give it up and 

 glad] y accepted Abe's word for it that there were three dogs 

 and five bitches out of Lady Cora by Hayden's Dan, one dog 

 named Spring, sired by Kildeer, winner of second in this 

 city at the last bench show, as Abe informed us. The pups 

 were all lemon and white, iu color and were little beauties. 

 Spring is that peculiar buff in color with white markings, 

 and undoubtedly has the making in him of a very fine dox. 



The cockers were a bitch and dog, ten and six months old 

 i*espectiveiy, black in color; they were of the working type, 

 not long and low. Abe again failed to recall a pedigree, 

 although he assured us that that they had one, and we are 

 prepared to believe that it is not to be sneezed at. Mr. Geis 

 informed us that the kennels are owned by James Whitney, 



of this city, and that he intends to have as good stock of the 

 breeds he is interested in as there is to be found before he is 

 done with it, and we are sure that he will succeed if he 

 follows the line so far laid down. 



The building is about forty by twenty-five feet, and con- 

 tains twelve stalls and the kitchen. Ample exercising yards 

 are conveniently attached, and everything is as clean and 

 neat as it well can be, not only in appearance but the absence 

 of any odor was remarked on. The disinfectant used is 

 Sanitas. 



The food for the dogs is varied occasionally by Spratts 

 biscuit, but usually consists of meat, cabbage, celery, bread 

 and middlings, which is all cooked, in the well-appointed 

 kitchen, in the form of a stew. "Abe" said that any one 

 need not be afraid to try a dish of the soup made for the 

 dogs. 



The bathing tub is also in the kitchen near the stove. A 

 word for "Abe," as he told us to call him, and we are done. 

 He loves his dogs and they know it, he combines pains- 

 taking care with a thorough knowledge of the business. 



Courteous and affable with a pardonable pride in his 

 charges, he only needs a more extended English vocabulary 

 in order to be able to explain pedigrees more lucidly, to be 

 about right, but as he is imported himself — a German— this 

 can hardly be said to count against him, and we hope to 

 see him and the dogs in his charge, as well as the owner of 

 the kennels, become well-known in "dogdom" through their 

 successes. Osceola. 



[Since the above was written Mr. W hitney has purchased 

 from Mr. E. H. Moore the mastiffs II ford Chancellor, Lady 

 Coleus, Caution's Daughter, Lady Dorothy and Miss Cau- 

 tion, and with this grand array of blood this kennel ought, 

 soon to take a foremost position in the mastiff ranks.] 



MR. BRAILSFORD REVIEWS THE FIELD TRIALS. 



Editor Forest .mid Stream: 



Taking advantage of a lull in these Atlantic storms, which 

 have prevailed for the 1 ast few days on my homeward voyage, 

 I now undertake the fulfilment of a promise, to express by 

 letter some thoughts and opinions on the receut field trial 

 competitions in Canada and the United States, in which, 

 with the team of pointers and setters sent over in my charge 

 by Mr. Heywood-Lonsdale. it has been my pleasure to en- 

 gage. 



And first let me say with regard to the merits of the dogs 

 of the States and Canada against which we competed, some 

 of which were native born and some imported, how much 

 gratification it afforded me to witness the great natural 

 development, fine ranging qualities, and staying powers of 

 the majority. 



The character of your country is so widely different from 

 our British shooting grounds, and the habits'of those charm- 

 ing little game birds— quail, so diverse from the habits of our 

 British partridges and grouse, that, as a matter of course, 

 the work at your field trial competitions differs considerably 

 in some important particulars from that to which we are 

 accustomed in England. As a natural consequence our 

 English dogs were considerably handicapped; still I venture 

 to say they were not by any means nonplussed or out of the 

 running. 



For the International Field Trials held near Chatham, 

 Out., early in November, our dogs were fairly acclimatized, 

 and prepared to enter the lists against the native dogs on as 

 equal terms as possible by a mouth's work in the locality, 

 and, as results proved, Mr. Heywood-Lousdale's kennel was 

 singularly successful, winning with its representatives three 

 out of four prizes in the Derby Stake, and clearing the board 

 of the whole of the prizes, four iu number, in the All-Ae-ed 

 Stake. 



We met at the Chatham trials some verv good dogs, of 

 which Mingo II., bred and broken by Mr. W. B. Wells and 

 owned by the worthy Sheriff of Chatham, was unquestion- 

 ably tha best young setter I saw on your side of the Atlantic. 

 I had seen enough of his work previous to the trials to form 

 a wholesome idea, that we had all our work cut out to boat 

 him, and I cannot now consider it was anything more than a 

 slice of luck that we were enabled to do so by the aid of the 

 young pointer Ightfield Tyke, who was just then in excellent 

 form and condition. Of the other dogs at these trials, there 

 were some splendid rangers and of great merit as game 

 finders, but they were almost without exception decidedly 

 deficient as to finished breaking. And here, once and for alt, 

 and as applying equally to the dogs we met in the United 

 States, let me give you my decided opinion that the neglect 

 to steady and drop your dogs after birds are flushed from a 

 point, encourages unsteadiness and rushing, faults which 

 put out the winning chances of many of the competing dogs 

 at Chatham, and also of some of those whose work I wit- 

 nessed at the other trials in the States. The argument as to 

 retrieving being a necessity, and that the dog pointing must 

 watch his bird, only goes to prove when put into practice, 

 that it uusteadies him and makes him too impatient when 

 on point and too eager to make a hasty movement the 

 moment game is put up. It was this hastiness and unstead- 

 ness on the part of our rivals at Chatham, which could be 

 so clearly seen in the open country there, that gave our more 

 perfectly broken dogs a great advantage, and helped them, 

 in no small measure, to win as they did at that meeting. 



On the termination of this pleasant Chatham gathering 

 a somewhat long journey, according to our English ideas, 

 was undertaken to Otterburn Springs, Virginia, the locality 

 fixed for the Eastern Field trial meeting. Arriving there 

 on Nov. 9 we obtained permission to work our clogs on 

 grounds situated a tew miles distant from Otterburn Springs 

 Hotel, and on two different occasions were most hospitably 

 entertained by Mr. Clarke, a kindly disposed English gen- 

 tleman hailing from Devonshire, who is farming somewhat 

 largely there. The owners, handlers and dogs engaged at 

 this Lastern meeting had mostly arrived at head quarters on 

 Nov. 14, wheu it was announced that a change in the sceue 

 of operations was necessary, owing to the fact that quail 

 were scarce on the grounds selected for the competition. 

 Consequently on the following day, a general move was 

 made to High Point, North Carolina, the old hunting 

 grouuds of the Eastern Field Trial Club,' some eighty miles 

 distant, and the commencement of the trials delayed until 

 Nov. 18. 



The. country around High Point is so densely wooded, and 

 the grass and weeds so high iu the open spaces, that com- 

 paratively little of the work of the competing dogs could be 

 seen; indeed, the impression forced upon me, after trying iu 

 vain to get to the front to see the work of some of those first 

 put down, was that the whole proceedings was more like 

 drawing for a fox than working a brace of pointers or 

 setters to kill game. Is it to be wondered at that, carried 

 out under sucn conditions, the general results of the East- 

 ern Field Trial Club's meeting were unsatisfactory? 



The rules for conducting the trials held under the aus- 

 pices of this club are good, and the perusal of a copy of them 

 was one of the chief inducements to Mi". Heywood-Lonsdale 

 to send his dogs from England to compete. The manner, 

 however, in which they were interpreted at High Point, as 

 shown by results, was, to say the least, somewhat of an 

 astonishment. Experience there proved once agaiu how 

 directly contrary to their plain and literal sense rules may 

 be read and acted upon. For instance, under the heading, 

 "Obedience and Disposition," one rule runs thus: "The 

 judges are requested to give great credit to the dog that, 

 works promptly without noise or severity, and is obedient, 

 prompt, cheerful, and easily handled," Another declares 

 that "all dogs must be thoroughly broken as a matter of 

 course," and further that "the range of a dog shall be an 

 intelligent one ; " 



One would imagine that rules worded in such a manner 

 could scarcely bear a double interpretation, the plain and 

 literal sense of those quoted manifestly being that a dog 

 should be thoroughly under control, should range his 

 ground within measurable distance of the man who works 

 or handles him, and search or hunt that ground well. The 

 awards, however, weut to show that an interpretation very 

 different to this was placed upon these rules, for it is a mat- 

 ter of fact that the wildest hunting dogs, even those that 

 bolted and had to be searched for by judges and handlers, 

 were selected as the winners at this meeting. This was 

 very marked in the case of Daisy Hope aud Duke of Hessen, 

 placed first and second in the Ail Aged Stake, Daisy bolted 

 time after time, and the dog running with her had to be 

 kept back until she was found, while in the case of Duke, 

 his wildness when he ran past Shot, on point on a bevy in 

 the open, and wilfully flushed without any attempt at 

 acknowledgment, should have put an end to his further 

 chance in the stake. And in general, dogs which had no 

 range at all, but rambled about, followed their natural 

 instincts, and found game without any regard to good 

 breaking, were the animals most favored at the Eastern 

 field trials, 



At the Central meeting which succeeded on more, open 

 ground, the work could be seen much better, and the judges 

 here very properly insisted on the competing dogs being so 

 handled as to work more in their sight. This more sports- 

 manlike method resulted in the more perfect] y broken dogs 

 regaining their proper positions in the prize list, and in the 

 bolters being discarded. 



Many were the complaints made by some of the principal 

 handlers with whom I conversed, that, owing to the widely 

 different opinions held by the judges at the Eastern and 

 Central meetings, it was impossible to know how to prepare 

 a dog to compete for both, Surely, however, at each and 

 every field trial the object should be to encourage such work, 

 and only such as can be enjoyed in private shooting 



W. BRAILSFORD. 



8. 0; City 0v Berlin, Dec. 22. 



NOTES AND NOTIONS. 



WHAT a reflux there seems to be in the tides of "Fancy" 

 just now? Who cannot remember when it was the 

 correct thing that a mastiff's head could not be too short? 

 When a collie's head could not be too long or narrow? or 

 wheu a spaniel could not be too long and low? Yet how the 

 tide was turned? Mr. T. W. Allen says in the English 

 Kennel Gazette that the muzzle of Lord Stafford would 

 please him better if longer. The London Stack-Keeper has 

 said several times that collies' heads were entirely too needle- 

 like, and the "long and low" in spaniels seems to be one of 

 those things that nobody has the courage to admit that he 

 was ever in favor of. It must not be supposed, however, 

 that this revolution is a new thing: Crown Prince was as 

 much of a horror to Mr. Nichols as Moonstone is to Mr. 

 Fellows. Mr. Lowe, "Thames Tattler" or Dr. Boulton, while 

 Hugh Dalziel held up his bands in contempt at the tapir 

 collie, and from Mr. W. W. Thompson's expressed admira- 

 tion of Marcus, as the best he ever owned, it would seem 

 that, he shared the opinions of Mr. Dalziel and Mr. Rawdon 

 B. Lee. 



Is there not a good deal of imagination about dog men 

 being so contentious? We all know they wrangle not a little , 

 but are they sinners above all others? I notice in skimming 

 over the poultry part of some of our papers, that chicken 

 men (and women) spit and snarl in a way that sounds very 

 familiar to me. The "ever ready" Espan delineated how 

 a goat show in England produced more hair pulling and 

 squalling than the average dog man fight. The fights be- 

 tween Mr. J. H. Wallace, George Wilkes and Charley Fos- 

 ter, or between Wilkes and Turf, were out of sight of any 

 wrangles ever seen in canine literature. So, while I freely 

 admit that doggy men are contentious, they are by no means 

 preeminent. 



But the Canine World, puts it about correctly that dog 

 men do not "observe," they only "see." Just note; Dr. 

 Romanes proposed some investigations on that, mysterious 

 endowment, the homing faculty in dogs, asking any one who 

 had a cat or dog that showed this characteristic to lend it to 

 him; but not a response did he get. The question as to 

 whether properties engrafted on dogs by edncation were 

 transmitted, or only those inherent, received only two or 

 three replies. Whether puppies naturally "play fiddle" 

 with a hindleg when the back is scratched shared the same 

 fate, and so on ad infinitum. Yet let Smith say his dog is 

 better than Jones's, and the air is darkened with the inky 

 war that follows; yet who cares whether Jones and Smith 

 and all their dogs were buried in the Antarctic Ocean? Yet 

 the matters propounded by Dr. Romanes are really interest- 

 ing; i. e., they actually do interest ninety-nine out of a hun- 

 dred readers. It certainly is not because doggy readers and 

 writers lack intelligence that this peculiar state of things 

 exists, for some of the very loudest-mouthed of our warriors 

 come second to none in capacity to understand and expound 

 such matters. The Onlooker. 



PHILADELPHIA KENNEL CLUB MEETING. 



Editor For est and Stream: 



The Philadelphia Kennel Club, at its meeting Jan. (5, 

 elected the followiug officers for the year 1891: Francis S. 

 Brown, President; Col. B. Ridg way. Vice-President; Chas. 

 B. Connell, Secretary; Francis G. Taylor, Treasurer; aud 

 William H. Child, Delegate to the American Kennel Club. 

 Also the following Board of Trustees: Cas. H. Winslow, S. 

 Murray Mitchell. Dr. G. G. Davis, Ezra Com fort. Hildebrand 

 Fitzgerald. Dr. Alex. Glass and Charles T. Thompson. 

 The delegate to the American Kennel Club was directed to 

 endeavor to have the awards at all of the field trials, held by 

 members of the American Kennel Club, recognized at the 

 bench shows held under their rules. It was also Resolved, 

 That the Philadelphia Keunel Club tender their grateful 

 thanks to Mr. Herbert Merriam and Mr. Washington A. 

 Coster for their efficient services as judges in the field trials 

 in 1890. The Philadelphia Kennel Club directed its field 

 trial committee of 1891 to forthwith communicate with all 

 of the field trial clubs of the country, for the purpose of 

 securing, if possible, the adoption of uniform rules for such 

 clubs. 



The committee were also directed to bring to the attention 

 of other clubs the advisability of having the same judges 

 for all of the trials, so that there will be uniformity not only 

 in the rules but in their enforcement, aud in. the judging of 

 the dogs. This action was taken in view of the material 

 differences between the rules of the several field trial clubs, 

 which as at present construed and enforced require a special 

 kind of breaking for each separate trial. Such a state of 

 things of course produces unsatisfactory results, and unless 

 there is some remedy owners of dogs will be compelled to 

 restrict their entries to those clubs which have the same rules. 



The club were also of the opinion that competent men 

 should be selected to judge all of the field trials, for which 

 they should receive proper compensation. This would se- 

 cure uniformity in decision, and dog owners and breakers 

 would then know the kind of work and the kind of break- 

 ing that would be required. As it is now, the whole matter 

 is to a great extent speculative and indefinite. I inclose you 

 some other memoranda of the action of the club at this 

 meeting which I desire you to publish. 



Francis S. Brown, President, 



