Duchess was a light-made black-and-tan, and her dam was by the undoubted black-white-and-tan Gordon for which Lord Chesterfield gave 72 gs. to Tattersall’s at the Duke’s dispersal sale, and her mother was a Marquis of Anglesea bitch. Where did the black-and-tan colour of Duchess come from? The reply is, not from Stella at all, but from Ned (mistakenly entered as Nell) in the pedigree quoted; and he got his colour from Mr. F. Burdett’s Brougham, which there is nothing to show was a Gordon at all, although he was descended from black-and-tans on one side at least. This same Brougham became the ancestor of the most famous breed of English setters—namely, the descendants of Mr. Tom Statter’s Rhœbe, winners of hundreds of field trials in this country and America, and which are still the best setters there are.
But when the breed became crossed with the Lord Rosslyn’s and Kent strains of black-and-tan blood, it practically ceased to be the setter at all in a very few generations. That is why any attempted revival of the black-and-tans ought to be based on dogs the ancestors of which for generations have been good enough to keep for work, and with no ulterior objects. But it would be an up-hill business, for nothing in breeding is more certain than that colour is indicative of blood, and to select for black-and-tans would be to select the wrong type a hundred times in a hundred and one.
On the other hand, if any of the old light-made black-and-tan dogs, with dish faces instead of hound profiles, could be found, the black-and-tan colour is so prepotent that they might have any cross of parti-coloured strain and yet perhaps not show it in the colour in the first generation. Although blackand-tan is a much more prepotent colour than any parti-colour, it is not so much so as the whole colours, black and red. Probably it cannot be produced by breeding these two last-named together. Then facts seem to indicate that the ancestors of our setters were some whole-coloured races or black-and-tan dogs of some wild or domestic kinds.
After grouse have got wild to a team of light-coloured dogs, some shots may often be had over a black-and-tan setter. Possibly the birds mistake the setter for a collie, and the gunner, if suitably dressed in imitation, for the shepherd. There are occasions when, on the contrary, the grouse are more afraid of the sheep-dog than any other, and this may not always mean that the shepherd, like his dog, is a poacher.
It has been said that a black-and-tan is a bad colour to see on the moors, but this is not so. No sportsman would use a black coat for shooting, because it is more conspicuous than any other, and what is true of the man’s coat is true of the dog’s colour.
RETRIEVERS AND THEIR BREAKING
Retrievers are now by far the most popular gun-dogs in this country, whereas in America they are considered useless, with the exception of a few that are kept exclusively for duck shooting, and which are called Chesapeake Bay dogs, and are a distinct breed from any we have in England. Ninety-nine-hundredths of the work of English retrievers is on land, and although a retriever can hardly be called perfect unless he will hunt in water, and get a winged duck if that be possible, yet it is absolutely impossible to have a dog that is perfect in everything (or so it appears), and therefore a shooter exercises a wise moderation in his demands when he insists on perfection in one department rather than moderation in all.
People purchase and use retrievers for either one or more of several reasons:—
1. Because they like a dog.
2. Because they like to collect more game than they shoot.