May 21, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



35B 



THE POINTER DOG "OSSINING.'^ 

 Owned by Mr. W. H. Hyland, North Tarrytown, New York. 



advance can "be made in other breeds why not in this? As T 

 was unable to pnrchase Hotnot or Hermit I did the next 

 best thing, sending: two good and suitable bitches to be 

 served by them. I trust the experiment will prove suc- 

 cessful, and that next year I may be enabled to exhibit the 

 produce. 



It is a general supposition that there are no longer any 

 Clumber spaniels at the Duke of JSTewcastle's estate— Cluni- 

 ber: but this is erroneous. While they are not kept there in 

 anythiug like the numbers they once were, nor is the quality 

 of the stock what it was, there are still quite a number of 

 the_ beautiful lemon and whites in the ducal kennels. 

 Owing to an epidemic about twenty years ago, which deci- 

 mated the inmates of the dueal kennels, the old strain, that 

 is, the immediate and distinct Clumber House strain, has 

 been pretty well lost; though of com-se it is an easy matter 

 to restock from the pure-blooded dogs kept on so many of 

 the estates, and which naturally emanated originally from 

 Clumber. Indeed, I know of instances where members of 

 the Pelham-Clinton family purchased stock from outside 

 kennels the produce of which they sold as the direct Clum- 

 ber House strain. There is such a demand for thesespaniels, 

 and at paying prices, too. that it has often surprised me that 

 they were not bred largely at Clumber for the market, as of 

 course the very name of the breeder would throw an addi- 

 tional halo over dogs bred there. If the Duchess will make 

 up her mind to exhibit her dogs at the leading shows, it will 

 not be long before the interest in the bread is reawakened in 

 England. This will mean that the breed will also meet with 

 favor here. 



Intending breeders and exhibitors should set most cau- 

 tiously to work in making their selections, and bear in mind 

 that a prize winner in England is not necessarily a perfect 

 type of the breed. Let them either select a trustworthy 

 agent or else study the criticisms of the dogs shown in the 

 Stoch-Kecpcr or the Canine World . and so discover the 

 attributes of the various dogs before the public. They can 

 then make their purchases intelligently and with somehope 

 of getting what they want— a good Clumber. Clumber. 



Ottawa, Canada. 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN BLOOt)HOUND. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



A correspondent of FOREST AND STREAM inquires in the 

 issue of April 33 about the South American bloodhound. 



I once lived for a year in the city of Santa Marta, United 

 States of Columbia, where these dogs were not uncommon. 



When full grown the Spanish bloodhound stands from 2S 

 to SOin. high at the shoulder, and weighs from TO to SOlbs. 

 It is usually of a tawny j^ellow color, with a black muzzle 

 and herce red eyes, hair short, with a slightly bushy tail 

 and short ears. In form, more like the modern English 

 foxhound than any other dog I know, but much larger and 

 heavier, a cross perhaps, originally, between a foxhound 

 and a mastiff, or probably some large and savage breed. 



I lived for some months in a house where one of these 

 dogs was kept as a watchdog, and so savage was he that no 

 one of the family except the servant who fed the dog dared 

 to leave their rooms in the morning until he was chained up 

 It is the only dog that I have failed to make friends with— 

 he was like a wild beast. In the city of Manila, a Spanish 

 colony in the East Indies, I found these bloodhounds. The 

 American merchant there, who lived in an exposed situa- 

 tion in the suburbs, kept eight or ten of these dogs chained 

 up about his premises. I passed some weeks with him. and 

 no one except the man who took care of them dared to 

 approach them. Some of them wete tawny in color, others 

 light brown or brindle, and they were even larger and 

 heavier than those in South America. 



I think these dogs must be of the same breed with those 

 that the Spaniards took with them to Cuba and Mexico to 

 hunt the natives with. They would make sad havoc among 

 half naked Indians. My host in Manila gave a puppy of 

 this breed to the captain of the ship of which I was super- 

 cargo, it was about three months old, gentle and playful, 

 hut before we got home, some five or six months afterward, 

 the beast had become savage and treacherous, and had 

 bitten several of the crew. Our fir.st officer, who took care 

 of the dog, had to knock him down with a handspike more 

 than once to save himself from injury. 



When we reached Boston and the mate took the dog 

 ashore, it was observed that ferocious as he was to mankind, 

 he was a coward with other dogs. On the whole a very un- 

 satisfactory kind of dog to have about. S. C' C. 



TOO MUCH WHISTLING AT FIELD TRIALS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was much pleased to note that the Eastern Field Trials 

 Club have eliminated retrieving from their rules, also the 

 forty-five minute rule. I need not discuss the argitments 

 that have been advanced pro and con on the subject. I 

 merely desire to put myself on record as being heartily in 

 accord with the change. What now prompts me to write 

 you is a sugaestion of further changes, or rather to suggest 

 that instructions should be given to judges to place a dif- 

 ferent interpretation on a certain class of work of the dogs 

 than obtained at the last trials. It was a new experience to 

 me to see two handlers with whistles in their mouths, cast 

 off their dogs and keep up a continual trot, reminding one 

 of a couple of boys marching down the street during the 

 bazoo craze. 1, in my surprise and innocence, noting the 

 dogs took no more notice of what to me meant "Come to 

 heel," than if two donkeys were braying asked, "What in 

 thunder are they whistling for?" when I was informed by 

 one ot my confreres that that was the American mode of 

 training dogs to keep out at their work and so the dogs 

 would know the direction the handlers were going. This 

 may be an excellent idea, but I should say. if field trials are 

 meant to show high class natural ability,' that did I own a 

 brute that required whistling at to make him interested in 

 his work, well, to put it mildly, he would be out of place in 

 a field trial of the reputation of the Eastern Field Trials 

 Club. If this mode of working dogs when out shooting was 

 the one univer.sally practiced no great harm would ensue, 

 but I venture the assertion that not one man in a hundred 

 works his setter or pointer in this manner. The consequence 

 is, that if a handler, who works his dogs on the orthodox 

 sportsman's way and who has a high class, obedient do'z, 

 meets a handler who has a plug-hunting, courageless crea- 

 ture that requires continually whistling at "to keep him out 

 at his work," the obedient dog must naturally suffer. Then 

 again, if the club will instruct their judges to penalize this 

 style of handling and working dogs, it will do away with 

 the suspicion that was openly asserted at the late trials, that 

 certain handlers kept whistles of every known tone and used 

 them to rattle an opponent's dog. 



Another idea prevailed and was insisted on as the rule of 

 the club— which I think should be changed — is that requir- 

 ing a dog to remain pointing until the handler has flushed 

 the bird. My idea is, and the only one I ever saw practiced, 

 -for a dog to remain at "point" until his handler comes up, 

 then at command the dog to move with the gun and locate 

 his game, for, as Mr. Brailsford tersely put it, "Which 

 knows best where the game is, the dog wUh his powers of 

 scent or the man who has none P" The style of work I ad- 

 vocate, sho-\vs to my mind the only true way to test a dog in 

 a manner field triels are intanded for. viz.: to show his ac- 

 curacy on birds. If the manner of judging first mentioned 

 prevailed in the district in whicb our local trials are held, 

 the handler would find while he was aimlessly tramping 

 around to prove his point that Mr. Prairie Chicken had run, 

 probably s qtiarter of a mile, whereat a j^ood chicken dog 



would never permit the bird to get away any further then 

 he could scent it. The style of dog required by the Eastern 

 Field Trials Club, and the class of work they desire, viz.: a 

 bold, dashing, game-finding animal, is thoroughly in accord 

 with ray own ideas of what a .aetter or pointer should be. I 

 think and hope the club will take my suggestions in the 

 spirit in which they are given. We are agreed and both 

 aiming at how best to improve the setter and pointer for 

 high-class work, and endeavoring to make rules whereby 

 the best dog musfc win. Thos. Johxson. 



WiNNipEfl, Manitoba, April 26. 



VAL JEAN. 



Editor Forest a nd Stream: 



Of the many interesting stories and bits of news found in 

 your paper, nothing warms my heart so much toward my 

 fellow sportsmen as an obittiary of a faithful dog. Perhaps 

 that kind of reading is not generally popular, but it always 

 makes me feel that there are many kind and true men in the 

 world after all, and that they have large hearts and are 

 honest fellows, who feel the loss of their dog. Can I not 

 picture to you a day in June, 1876, a village blacksmith 

 shop in Massachusetts, an ox-cart a little to one side of the 

 large door and a few gnarled oak trees near by. Under the 

 cart an Irish water spaniel with a lot of brown woolly pup- 

 pies playing about her. One of these dogs came into my 

 possession in August of that year and was naiued Yal Jean. 

 His .sire was an English spaniel of imported stock. I have 

 had many dogs around me since that time, but none that 

 could be taught as easily as A"al, as we very soon called him, 

 and none that possessed nearly as much ol^ my affection. 

 He was .shown in the first New York dog show of the West- 

 minster Kennel Club, but not having been put in his stall 

 was not judged. The following year I was there to at- 

 tend to him, and he easily secured second prize in the re- 

 t^ie^^ng spaniels. He was easily trained for hunting and 

 soon found a way of his own to dodge the brakeman and 

 scurry under the first vacant seat in a passenger car of a 

 railroad train. He was fond of travel and visited many of 

 the States. Always ready for work and willing to do any- 

 thing asked of him, he was a great favorite, and was always 

 included with us in an invitation to dine out when in the 

 West. He was good on all kinds of game and as a retriever 

 none could beat him. Many stories I could tell of his ex- 

 ploits in that line, from getting a winged jacksnipe in a 

 marsh, where he sank to his body in niud, to retrieving a 

 redhead in icy water. Jumping over a cliff" a few years ago, 

 and dropping about twenty feet below into a meadow, he 

 broke one of his legs, and since then was of little account 

 for work. As a house dog and for useful work he was 

 almost numan. Yal Jean was born in May, 1S76, and died 

 March 18, 1891. Poor old man! If your master and friends 

 live as §ood a life and try as hard to do what is right as you 

 did, their reward is certain when they are called. Your 

 place can never be filled in my affection.' C. T. P. 



DEATH OF CHARLES DAVIS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Early on Monday morning I had the great misfortune to 

 lose my greyhound Charles Davis. He was killed while 

 fighting through the wire partition which separated him 

 and his mate Maud Torrington from the deerhounds. The 

 wire is of about 4in. mesh, and while snapping at the dogs 

 on the other side be must liave been caught by one of them 

 and had his head pulled through. Being unable to extract 

 it, the deerhouuds soon put an end to one of the best grej'- 

 hounds in this country, and one who I am sure had a grand 

 career before him a.s a coursing dog. At the last meet of 

 the Eastern Coursing Club he won the best course of the 

 day, beating his competitor at the rate of 47 to 1 and making 

 more points than the judge could follow. Naturallj' high 

 hopes were entertained of what he might do at the coming 

 meeting at Great Bend, at which he would have been slipped. 

 His loss would seem less severe had he left behind him some 

 of his blood, hut unfortunately I refrained from breeding 

 him to Maud Torrington last January, as I wished to show 

 her through the circuit. Charles Davis was bred by Mr. 

 Cleare, of Burnham, England. He was born in January. 

 1885. He was sired by Royal Stag out of Clyte. In England 

 he had a record of eighteen firsts and specials, and on this 

 side two first and four seconds, being beaten each time by 

 Gem of the Season. 



Notwithstanding this bad luck, I expect to introdnce to 

 the greyhound world, before long, something to take the 

 place of poor Charlie which will make some of' the old breed- 

 ei*s hustle, so to speak. Albion L. Page. 



■ "DnNEOBiN Kennels, Stanley, N. J., May 12. 



Mr. G. W. Linchell lost his English aetter bitch Dell Glad- 

 stone by death last week. She won third at the last Toront o 

 •how. 



OSSINING. 



THE subject of our illustration this week is the light- 

 weight pointer dog Ossining, owned by Mr. Wm. H. 

 Hyland, of North Tarrytown, X. Y. This dog was whelped 

 March 30, 1888, and his breeder was Mr. J. O'Hara Denny, 

 of Pittsburgh, Pa. His .sire is chauipiun Ptobert le Diable, 

 dam, Countess Nellie D., and she is the dam of Prince, who 

 divided second with Bang Bang at the Eastern field trials 

 of 1885. Ossining is thoroughly broken on all game and has 

 great speed and endurance in the field. His show record in 

 good company also shows him well able to hold his own on 

 the bench as well, having won third, New York; second, 

 Boston; second. Wilmington, and first, Danbury, 1890; first, 

 Lynn; second, Boston, and first, Cleveland, 1891. Mr. Hyland 

 will shortly place him in the stud. 



A STRAIGHTFORWARD CHALLENGE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Mr. Laidlaw declines my challenge and refuses to make 

 good his own boast. He said in an open letter to FOREST 

 AXD Stream: (1) That in my comments of the Chicago 

 show, written for your paper, I criticised his dog Oban 

 maliciously, and extolled my own bitch Amazement un- 

 fairly. (2) That your reporter was more competent to judge 

 dogs than I was. (3) That he would back his dog against 

 my iiitch for fnn, money or marbles. 



I forthwith sent to you New York draft for ,^100 to settle 

 the dog question, and you headed my communication "A 

 Straightforward Challenge," but it has brought no re- 

 sponse. It was fun or marbles Mr. Laidlaw wanted, not 

 money; it was a bluff', not business, tlmt he was writing for. 

 The defaulter, as proved by his silence, is driven to admit 

 the superiority of Amazement over Oban, the unfairness of 

 Mr. Nelles in his awards at Cleveland, and finally the weak- 

 ness of his own judgment. Geo, Bell. 



[We have returned Mr. Bell's draft for §100 according to 

 his request.] 



THE CHESTNUT HILL KENNELS' COLLIES.— Phila- 

 delphia, Pa.— JJf///or i'oj'esf and, St renin: Referring to the 

 article in your issue of the oresent week in regard to the 

 large sale made by us to the Seminole Kennels, 1 beg to say 

 that, while we have parted with a number of our best dogs, 

 we have still on hand an assortment which no other collie 

 kennel can boast of in this country, barring the Seminole. 

 The latter kennels, we believe, do not intend to dispose of 

 their best stock, at any rate for the present, whereas we are 

 still offering for sale everything except the two Plurrys. 

 We have determined to dispose of our dogs for two reasons: 

 In the first place, competition has been so much narrowed 

 the last two years that we thought it best, for the interest 

 of the collies, that the winning dogs, which have been largely 

 controlled by us lately, should be separated among dift'erent 

 kennels. Again, as it would have been a heavy expense to 

 have kept our large kennels together, having determined 

 not to exhibit except for specials before the fall of 1893, we 

 for this reason also decided to reduce them. We have still 

 three stud dogs, whose services we offer to the public at re- 

 duced rates. Wellsbourne Charlie, whom many people con- 

 sider the best collie in the world; Maney Trefoil and Roslyn 

 Regent, the son of The Squire, shown in New York and Chi- 

 cago; beaten at the former place, but winning well at the 

 latter. For the information of breeders who are looking for 

 new stock, we would call their attentien to the fact that we 

 still have on hand a selection of the best collie bitches that 

 can be obtained in this country, some in whelp and some 

 will be shortly ready to breed, among them several by Chris- 

 topher.— The Chestxut Hill Kensels (Mitchell Harrison, 

 Proprietor). 



CALIFORNIA NOTES.— Mr. W. H. Richardson, of this 

 city, has purchased of Mr. George Raper, the well-known 

 English judge, the fox-terrier bitch Richmond Jessamine. 

 She was whelped May, 1890, and is by Spinner (Yesuvian — 

 Preston Tiney) out of Lady Scarboro' (Raby Trick— Mouse- 

 held Zoe). She will be bred to Raby Dominie before leaving 

 the old country for her long journey "Honest John" vis- 

 ited two coursing matches while in San Francisco, at the 

 Ocean v'iew Park. I trust he will not gatrge California 

 coursing by that at Ocean View. The hares seldom run well 

 there, and it cannot be compared with Merced cour.sing in 

 any sense. 1 still predict that the very best Eastern dogs 

 will have their pace cut out for them by the Merced hai-es, 

 and whatever they win from the dogs on this coast they will 

 earr. Human nature is the same" the world over. When 

 Mr. Davidson picked out Valley Queen as the best grey- 

 houd in the recent bench show and afterward compared her 

 with Duke of Vernon' for the best dog in the show, I confess 

 to a thrill of pleasure. I had predicted that such would be 

 the case months ago, and I cannot conceive of a stronger in- 

 centive to greyhound men to show their dogs, for v alley 

 Queen has won every course she ever competed tor and t\irn© 

 M If on a plTot,— NAMQtrojT, 



