SPORTING SPANIELS 
bright, and Kelso have been visited by the Scottish Field Trials Associa- 
tion, and only last year one of the founders of that very enterprising society, 
Mr Charles Philipps, brought out a team broken on his own shooting 
near Castle Douglas, which surprised even the oldest field trial man who 
was present. The way the different members of this team ran was a revela- 
tion. They seemed to be at home on every kind of ground, they were 
splendidly broken, showed no fear when asked to push their way through 
brambles or whins, while their steadiness in all circumstances was re- 
markable. Only a few weeks before Mr Arkwright had been just as success- 
ful with a similar team at Sutton Scarsdale, the estate he owns near 
Chesterfield, and on which the first spaniel trial was held in 1899. At 
that time Mr Arkwright laid out part of his park with a view to making 
the competitions as severe as possible. The plantations and hedgerows 
formed then have now very greatly improved, and it would be difficult 
to find ground more equable in every respect than that at Sutton 
Scarsdale. The third open meeting held last season was the one at 
Wytham Abbey, the shooting of Mr Charles Butter, a few miles from 
Oxford, and in a long experience of these competitions, dating from the 
very first meeting, we do not remember seeing better work than that 
done by Mr Eversfield’s team, the cockers of Lieut. -Col. Heseltine, and 
Nell Guy, the clever little spaniel brought from Staffordshire by Mr J. R. 
Winterton. 
The Clumber . — Clumbers are now rarely seen at the trials, their slowness 
being a handicap, though there is a great deal to admire in them, and it is 
well known that not only the Duke of Portland, but the Duke of Devonshire, 
the Duke of Westminster, and the Duke of Newcastle still employ the 
Clumber for beating out thick covert. The late King Edward was a great 
admirer of the breed. His Majesty not only supported the chief dog shows, 
but for a great many years he maintained a fine kennel at Virginia Water, 
and it was one of the sights of Windsor Forest to see the old spaniel man, 
now pensioned off, I believe, in charge of the royal team during shooting 
or for the purpose of exercise. The last time I was privileged to be shown 
round the Windsor shooting, Weir was very enthusiastic about main- 
taining the team of Clumbers. As a fact there was some talk of building 
new kennels quite close to his lodge, where the dogs would be under his 
personal supervision. In the early days of shooting. Clumbers were in- 
variably worked in teams. They are not very clean retrievers, and are 
seen at their best on partridge ground or in moderately thick under - 
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