Feb, 22, 1896. j 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
159 
feature of the bird supply disturbed the equity of the 
competition not a little. On this evening the TJ. S. F. T. 
Club gave a dinner to the land owners and other guests. 
Jingo and Topsy's Rod were oast off at 8:06. They had 
the best part of the grounds to run over in that they con- 
tained the greatest number of birds, and they further 
had the advantage of the morning hours, all of which 
contributed greatly to their good showing as compared 
to that of the other dogs. Rod cut out quick and sharp 
work in ranging, finding and "pointing, and in the first 
half of the heat he seemed to have the matter all his own 
way. Jingo was running as if he felt stale, and there 
was an absence of dash and enthusiasm in his work. 
Toward the latter part of the heat he was going better 
and did work enough on birds to make a close race in 
finding and pointing. Rod stopped to a flush on a bevy 
in woods. The dogs were started to find the scat- 
tered birds and Rod pointed another bevy. Jingo 
backed. On scattered birds Jingo made two good 
points. Rod made two points, and one to which there 
was nothing. Jingo was next to find and point a bevy. 
Sent on, Rod pointed a bevy and Jingo joined in the 
point a moment later. Sent on, Rod pointed an out- 
lying single, then roaded on a few yards and pointed 
the rest of the bevy in a plum thicket. Sent on, 
Jingo pointed a.^ bevy. JingoJ pointed a single bird in 
matted grass, Rod backed, and before the bird was flushed 
Rod was sent on to search for birds. Next, Rod pointed, 
then roaded on to a flush on a bevy. The handlers were 
instructed to shoot over no more points, instructions 
which were little heeded. Rod pointed a bird and was 
steady when the gun was fired. He next made two 
points on singles and one flush. Nest he pointed a bevy 
in a plum thicket, and sent on he flushed a few remaining 
birds. Next he pointed a single and was steady to shot. 
Jingo held his point a long while on a bevy while handlers 
and judges were walking up to him. Rod roaded and 
pointed; nothing found. Jingo pointed a bevy in the 
open field. Rod next made three points and Jingo four 
points on singles. Next both pointed the scattered birds 
of a bevy or it was a new bevy. Thus toward the last of 
the heat Jingo made a favorable showing on birds as 
compared to Rod. The latter had the advantage in dash 
and speed in point work. Each backed well and was 
steady to the gun. Jinge, five bevies, six singles. Rod, 
five bevies, two flushes on bevies, ten singles, three flushes 
on singles and two false points. 
Cynosobe and Delhi were cast off at 10:20. Cynosure 
pointed; Delhi backed; then a few yards further on both 
roaded quite a distance into woods, Uelhi securing the 
point, Cynosure backing. The find was Cynosure's. 
Sent on, Delhi pointed; nothing found. Cynosure 
pointed three times on scattered birds. Cynosure pointed 
a lark. Sent on, and during the heat Cynosure pointed 
four more bevies and flushed one; she pointed three more 
times on single birds and flushed once, and made one 
point to which nothing was found. Delhi pointed two 
more bevies, made three points on scattered birds and 
one flush, and one point which was barren. Each backed 
well and was steady to the gun. Cynosure was the bet- 
ter ranger and had an advantage decidedly in her favor 
when the heat ended. She was well entitled to further 
trial. 
Lunch was eaten and the running was resumed. 
Tony Boy and Harold Skimpole were started at 1:13. 
Harold pointed three bevies, one of which Tony Boy 
flushed, and he made three points on scattered birds. 
Each made a point to which there was nothing found. 
Tony made four points on scattered birds. He was much 
the wider ranger; m fact, he ranged too wide at times, 
and at the end of the heat, after having run over a great 
deal of ground, he was running strong. Skimpole main- 
tained a narrower but more uniform range, well sus- 
tained to the end, and had a decided advantage in finding. 
Tippoo and Count Gladstone IV. were started at 3:18. 
The heat was difficult to manage. The handlers were sep- 
arated often, the dogs were kept to the course with diffi- 
culty, and there was a general lack of finish in it as a 
whole. There was a good deal of handler following dog 
instead of dog working to his handler, and the exhibition 
was far from what would be expected in a champion com- 
petition. Both dogs, though they started very keen and 
strong, were very weary at the finish and had practically 
ceased to search. Many times the dogs were separated, 
working on different ground. Count's style was inferior. 
Count pointed three or four bevies, made five points on 
scattered birds, flushed three times, once excusably, and 
made one point to which nothing was found. Tippoo 
made four points on bevies, two of which he flushed, one 
excusably, and he made two points on scattered birds. 
Tuesday. 
The day was fine and favorable for good work in every 
way. The irregularity in the bird supply was still appar- 
ent in its effects on the competition. One end of the 
grounds contained an abundance of birds, other parts a 
moderate supply, and again other parts contained hardly 
any. The work of the day was hardly up to the form 
which one would expect of a championship competition. 
The attendance was good and the interest undiminished 
Strideaway and Tony's Gale began at 8:21. The lat- 
ter was not working up. to his form of the all-age compe- 
tition. Both ran a fairly good working race. The dogs 
behaved very well to shot and wing, and backed well. 
The finding of Tony Gale was the better, and he seemed 
to have a slight advantage in judgment in beating out 
the ground. Tony Gale pointed six bevies, one of which 
flushed wild. Strideaway pointed six bevies, two of 
which were marked down. Three bevies had been 
marked down during the heat, and the bevies pointed 
were more than the dogs found. Tony Gale made five 
points on scattered birds, three points to which there 
was nothing, and flushed a single. Strideaway made 
three points on scattered birds. 
Lad op Rush, the bye dog, was started at 10:33, with 
Cracker Jack for a running mate. Lad had inferior 
grounds to run on part of the time, but he made an excel- 
lent showing, finding and pointing five bevies, one point 
supposed to be on a rabbit afterward proving to have been 
a bevy point. He made three points on scattered birds 
and divided with Jack the responsibility of an excusable 
bevy flush across wind. He backed Jack's bevy point 
nicely and made one point which proved barren. He 
showed excellent judgment in beating out his ground 
and in his point work. His pace and range were well 
maintained throughout. 
This heat ended, the first series, and the party went to 
lunch. 
Second Bound. 
It seemed strange that after running eleven dogs two 
hours each, the judges could not determine with more 
precision what dogs merited further competition and 
what ones did not. Out of eleven competitors, nine were 
retained in the competition . Six would have been ample. 
Cynosure had run a much better heat than two or three 
which had been kept in, notably Count Gladstone and 
Tippoo, both of which had shown great weariness and 
want of stamina in the first series. The heats were one 
hour each in this round. 
Count Gladstone and Jingo began at 1:47. The heat 
was a sloppy one, not up to the best form of either dog, 
and far from what one would expect in a field trial com- 
petition. Jingo was going better in the latter part of the 
heat. He pointed two bevies and made a point on 
scattered birds. He was steady to shot, backed and 
worked to the gun well. Count pointed one bevy, and 
some remaining birds of another after he had got into the 
middle of it. Jingo was also in the middle of it. It was 
very ragged work for both. Count passed to and fro near 
one bevy which he flushed. He made three points on 
scattered birds and flushed one, and made two points to 
which nothing was found. His style on point was 
slouchy. The heat as a whole was ordinary. 
Tony Boy and Topsy's Rod started at 3:11. They ran 
1 hour and 5 minutes. There was quite a delay in bring- 
ing up the wagons. There was also a good deal of an- 
noyance from the spectators crowding up too close. Tony 
Boy ran fast and strong, taking wide casts betimes, occa- 
sionally too wide for proper ranging. The class of his 
bird work nearly smothered that of Topsy's Rod, the 
work of the latter in midday hours being quite different 
from that in the morning hours of the previous day, on 
grounds where birds were plentiful. He needed much 
coaching in his bird work. He flushed one bevy, pointed 
one which had been marked, made five points on scat- 
tered birds, and six points to which there was nothing, 
Tony found and pointed two bevies, made four points on 
scattered birds, and one which had nothing to it. Each 
dog backed well. One of the judges lengthily rebuked 
one of the handlers, the wrong one, and the handlers 
scolded each other. 
Harold Skimpole and Tippoo began at 4:25. The heat 
was a fair working heat on the part of Skimpole. On the 
part of Tippoo it was sloppy. He flushed one bevy which 
Harold was pointing, and afterward made two flushes on 
singles, on one of which he was unsteady. He found and 
pointed three bevies and made three points on singles 
and one barren point. One of the bevy points was 
specially noteworthy, it being on very short grass in the 
open field, where the birds had no cover to hide in. Har- 
old's range was medium wide. 
Wednesday. 
The day was cloudy, A mild wind was blowing and 
the conditions were not unfavorable. The competition 
was not of a high order. 
Lad of Rush and Strideaway came together at 8:43 
to determine conclusions. For a while Strideaway fol- 
lowed Lad in his course,thus not working independently. 
The end of the grounds where birds were so plentiful 
was but lightly worked, henee the totals of finds was 
largely cut down. Strideaway pointed a single and Lad 
backed. Lad pointed and Strideaway backed; nothing 
found. Sent on, Lad pointed a bevy and Strideaway 
backed; the bevy was flushed some yards down wind of 
the point. Lad pointed in the open field and Strideaway 
backed to order; nothing found. Sent on, Lad made an 
indifferent point on a bevy. Strideaway flushed a single 
on a side hill in sedge or pointed just as it flushed. The 
heat lasted 1 hour and 2 minutes. It was an ordinary 
working heat save in the matter of range and speed, 
both dogs going fairly well. 
Tony Gale started at 9:57 with Virginia for a running 
mate, behaving the bye. The heat was a fair working 
heat. Tony's range was fair. Tony pointed a single which 
flushed wild. Tony next pointed part of a bevy, Virginia 
flushing the rest. Tony next pointed scattered birds. 
Both pointed a rabhitor nothing; the rabbit ran by where 
the dogs were pointing. Tony pointed a bevy in the open. 
He next pointed; nothing found. As Virginia's work is 
no part of the competition it is not given. 
Final. 
There was some delay in bringing up the wagons, a not 
unusual circumstance. The judges consulted long and 
earnestly. 
Count Gladstone and Topsy's Rod were sifted out of 
the eleven starters to contest for the proud title of Cham- 
pion of America. They began at 11:55. Taking the work 
of both dogs into consideration it was not championship 
work. It was not ordinary all-age work. It was not good 
puppy work. It was not even good "plug-shooting-dog" 
work. It was an exhibition of wretched performance on 
birds and hard handling, and bad work to the gun. Such 
a heat as that should never have been accepted as a final 
to a champion stake. It is a monument to error. It is a 
burlesque on the title. It is an empty record and noth- 
ing more. Both dogs should have been retired 
and others brought forward after such inferior competi- 
tions. Such an important stake should never have been 
decided on such slovenly work. It should not have been 
decided in the manner it was when there was infinitely 
superior work done by other dogs. As a matter of right, 
Topsy's Rod should never have been run with Count. He 
had been thoroughly beaten by Tony Boy the day before. 
He had found and pointed a great many birds in his first 
heat. It was run in the choice part of the grounds, where 
there were birds in abundance. It was also the choice 
part of the day. Every dog which ran in the choice part 
of the grounds made a good showing. In the poorer 
parts Rod had made a very poor showing. Tony Boy 
could not make such a good showing on the choice part, 
for at no time was he run on that part of the grounds! 
His first heat could not be compared to Rod's for that 
reason. There was no similarity of conditions. In his 
second heat he beat Rod beyond question. Tony Boy's 
work as a whole was better than Count's, for he ran his 
first heat through without fatigue or shortening his range, 
while Count was thoroughly wearied in his first heat' 
needed urging to keep out at work and was going slow 
and narrow at the finish. His second heat was marked 
by some sloppy work. His style on point was 
slouchy when he did point, and the same on 
back when he did back. Count pointed a bevy and 
was steady to shot. Sent on, he pointed footscent. Rod 
at the same time was near a bevy which was seen to flush , 
It was claimed that he was pointing it. Rod pointed 
stanchly; nothing found. In a cornfield Count dropped 
to a point; he refused to move on when tested with the 
whistle; nothing found. Rod took a cast and pointed near 
the edge of woods. Count refused to back, although 
loudly ordered to do so. He pottered all around Rod while 
he stood pointing; nothing found. The dogs were out of 
sight for several minutes. Mr. Avent's negro servant, 
Charley, was helping to search for them. He called out 
that the dogs were on point. On reaching them, Count 
was found on point; Rod was backing. Nothing found. 
Charley explained that there were some which had flushed 
to the point. Sent on, Count was soon in the vicinity of a 
bevy which flushed. Count made a point on some scat- 
tered birds. Count pointefl and Rod ran by, refusing to 
back; footscent probably. Rod pointed well a single 
bird in point of woods. Rod flushed a. bevy and 
chased it. Count dropped to a point on some scattered 
birds in woods. Sent on, about 30yds. further he ran into 
a number of birds up wind and flushed them. Sent on, 
Rod flushed a single bird and chased it. Up at 1:01. 
Thus ended the farce. Instead of increasing in the 
merit of their work from start to finish the competition 
of the dogs was the reverse. The work decreased in 
merit to the finish and ended ingloriously. It was both 
painful and ridiculous. No dogs, blundering in their 
work, inferior to others, willfully disobedient and so hard 
to handle, should have been considered for a moment as 
winners of the Champion Stake. , 
It is painful to have such an unfavorable report to 
write. There would be an unalloyed pleasure in writing 
of merit and good management if such there were. It 
would be a pleasure to bestow praise if it could be honestly 
bestowed. But there is no praise to bestow. There is 
just cause for indignation instead. Of course there was 
no intention to railroad an inferior dog into winning the 
award. Such is not implied herein. It is all a gruesome 
mistake. But it is very deplorable, very harmful, very 
wearisome, is this solemn blunder of crowning the wrong 
dog. 
THE DIALOGUE OF THE CLUBS. 
Imagine, gentle reader, the clubs of the A, K. C. fam- 
ily in pleasant conversation together, discussing that sub- 
ject so essential to the type of the bull terrier and the 
Great, Dane that is, the cutting off of the dogs' ears — a 
matter not only essential as it relates to type, but as it re- 
lates to the happiness and prosperity of the owners of 
bull terriers and Great Danes. 
The conversation was conducted with amiability and 
fairness. 
The bull terrier admirers were distinctly conspicuous 
for their chasteness of speech, tolerance of opinion and 
skillfulness in disputation and repartee. The elegance of 
their diction, their profundity of opinion, their scientific 
knowledge and their fertility in calling names made them 
formidable antagonists for all those who were over nice 
in preserving clean hands. 
There were fifty-two or three clubs, more or less, in this 
family circle, of which four or five, more or less, were 
devoted to the special improvement of certain breeds of 
dogs, and of these two or three, more or less, cut off the 
dog's ears in their zeal for his improvement, while two 
or three others cut off his tail for a like purpose. No one 
who thinks rightly will deny for a moment that a most 
profound knowledge of biology, of the peculiarities of a 
breed, of type, of heredity, of everything, are all re- 
quired in breeding dogs, to which the finishing touches 
are put on with the scissors, the chisel or the knife. 
The breeders of the St, Bernard, the collie, the mastiff, 
etc., who breed strictly according to nature's laws, can 
never hope for the skill of the breeders whose system 
includes scissors, chisels, knives, balsam, cocaine and dark 
corners for slicing and clipping and cutting and curing. 
Imagine further, gentle reader, that the first speaker, 
known as Mr. Bench Show, said to Mr. Specialty, of the 
Bull Terriers: "Mr. S. B. T., does your club hold bench 
shows?" 
"No," was the reply. 
"Is your club financially responsible in any way for 
bench shows?"' 
"No." 
"Well, what are you financially responsible for?" asked 
Mr. B. S. 
"Why," replied Mr. Specialty, "as to that it does not 
concern the question at all. In fact, it's none of your 
business. But I will deign to answer you. We do a 
grand and noble work. We make the type and we en- 
courage breeders. We add luster to the canine world. 
We are not responsible for bench shows in any way 
financially. We don't hold shows. We don't intend to 
hold shows. So long as you fellows hold shows and pay 
expenses there is no need of us doing so. We appoint 
judges, thus saving you every trouble but the one trifling 
item of engaging and paying them for their services." 
"But what type do you make? The breeders of past 
ages bred the bull terrier— out of diverse material, which 
need not be here enumerated — to a type which repro- 
duces itself and breeds true. The type is established and 
has been long in existence before your club was formed. 
Having perfected the whole dog, the breeders of the 
past could undoubtedly have bred the ear too had not the 
senseless custom of cropping been in fashion. How do 
you explain that?" 
"Pooh! that's nothing," replied Mr. Specialty. "Ears 
can't be bred alike on the bull terrier. We, the people, 
never could agree on a standard ear. The only way to 
avoid disagreements on ears is to cut the ears off. We, 
sir, know what is best for the breed. Moreover, we know 
what's what. Darwin conjectured that, as alarms to the 
dog became fewer, the dog erected his ears less, the mus- 
cles became weaker from disuse, and the ear in time be- 
came pendulous, whence we consider we are justified in 
cutting the ear off. Darwin's conjecture is our demon- 
stration, with the inevitable conclusion that the dog's 
health, comfort, happiness and well-being require that 
his ears be cut off at the earliest moment. It's a duty. 
You need not say that St. Bernards, pointers, setters, 
spaniels, hounds, etc., live quite comfortably with long, 
uncropped ears; for they have nothing to do with the 
case — we are talking of bull terriers. Besides, we must 
never lose sight of type." 
"Very good answer. Ahem! very good! But you are 
not responsible financially. You have only four or five 
specialty clubs, devoted to breeding and, scis^ora, white 
