SPORTING SPANIELS 
T he statement that the spaniel is the oldest of gundogs is one 
that has been generally accepted by all men interested in 
shooting from time immemorial. Developments there have 
been, of course, and while the old English water spaniel is prac- 
tically extinct, other varieties, with perhaps the sole exception 
of the Irish water spaniel, have made great progress and are 
as much used in certain districts nowadays as was the case at the time of 
the old flint lock. At that period, however, there is little doubt that what is 
still known as the springer (very little changed in appearance nowadays, 
and quite as adaptable) was the dog generally used and I know of no 
better picture of a dog of this type than that painted by George Stubbs 
and engraved by Smith in the early part of the last century. That type of 
springer is nowadays considered to be rather coarse, but there is at least 
one well-known dog of the present time which is almost an exact replica 
of the spaniel which served Stubbs so well as a model. That dog is 
Aviation, which was benched by his present owners at Stafford “ not for 
competition ” in February of this year. 
The Springer . — ^Though the springer, either the Welsh or the English 
variety, is just what most men want for shooting, he is a difficult dog 
to break. When that has been said there is nothing more against him. 
In the hands of a really clever handler, amateur or professional, the 
springer can be made invaluable. It is indeed dense growth that 
he cannot push his way through. The majority have splendid noses, 
and very few can be called hard-mouthed. A good springer can always 
be depended on to be faster than a Clumber, or even a field spaniel, but 
the springer is perhaps not quite so useful a dog for partridge ground, 
his speed causing him sometimes to miss game in an open country. 
Since field trials were first held in 1899 under the management of the 
Sporting Spaniel Society, the springer has taken a very prominent part 
in those interesting competitions, and one has only to recall the deeds 
of the team so well handled by Mr Charles Eversfield, and including such 
dogs as Velox, Amberite and others, whose names are well known to all 
spaniel men, to prove that they are the most successful of the great family 
to run at field trials. The establishment of the meeting at Denne Park, 
near Horsham, by Mr Eversfield did much to encourage gamekeepers 
and others in the south to break their springers, and at every meeting 
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