THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Talbot hound. There are black and tan terriers, otter hounds, dach- 
shunds, foxhounds, collies, and there is no need to have recourse to the 
far-fetched story of the Duke of Gordon forming the breed by breeding 
from a black and tan collie famous for nose. Besides it is not true that 
the Duke’s dogs were all black and tan. In the record of the notable sale, 
at the dispersal of the breed in 1836, there was only one black and tan 
in the lot, i.e., a bitch called Crop, so called because she had had one of 
her ears gnawed off by an escaped ferret when she was a puppy. The 
rest were black and white and lemon and white. This the writer had 
on the authority of Mr Robinson, of Solva, who was at that sale, and 
bought a puppy, a black and white one. No doubt if the Duke had black 
and tans it is exceedingly likely that they were produced by selection. 
It is known to most men who shoot on moors that grouse will lie better, 
when the season is advanced, to a dog that is of a subdued colour, 
and a dog as dark as a black and tan is far more likely to allow them to 
lie than a light -coloured object flashing about on the moor and attracting 
their notice. Another reason would be that they might be induced to 
take the dark setter for the shepherd’s collie, the sight of which they are ^ 
accustomed to. Thus, instead of digging deep for some mythical fancy of i 
supposed crosses with bloodhounds or collies, it is far more easy to j 
think that whoever had the breeding of the Duke’s dogs, produced the II 
colour by the process of selection for a specific purpose. Even the writer | 
advocates having a dark setter or two in his kennel for use when the || 
birds become wild and wary — why then should not the same idea have II 
occurred to the Duke ? How the so-called (erroneously) Gordon setter j 
came, what he was, and what he is, are very different things. The | 
Gordons of the sixties were of a very different stamp to those now || 
seen. The writer well remembers Old Kent, who might have been called f 
the father of the Gordons of that day, for after “ Idstone ” bought him ij 
of Sir E. Hoare about 1862 he was placed at public stud, and was j 
put to most of the Gordon bitches in the country. So much was he ji 
used that it was said that “ Idstone ” educated his children on the ^ 
money got from Kent’s stud fees. How much of that is a canard I . jj 
cannot say. Anyhow, Kent was much used. All, or nearly all, the 
Gordons of that day had Kent in their pedigree. Kent was a fine big || 
dog, but all in front. He had a well-shaped, but heavy (which would now j 
be thought very heavy) head, a deep forehead and shoulder, but fell i 
away behind, his back ribs and hindquarters were not equal to his 
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