Since the establishment of field trials for spaniels, every sort has been seen in public work, and their positions have been as clearly defined as any sportsman wanting information could desire. At first a clumber called Beechgrove Bee distanced all competitors. She was light-made for her race, and had a narrow head and rather pointed nose.
Next to her to assume command was Mr. Gardner’s Tring, a liver-and-white springer; and about the same time a curly dog called Lucky Shot did very well, but was rather short of nose. He has since been called an English water spaniel, but it is doubtful whether he was less of a springer, or Norfolk spaniel, than Tring, except by reversion a little more to the curly ancestors of both. But all these dogs were thrown into the shade by Mr. Eversfield’s black dog with a white chest, named Nimrod, which carried all before him at the 1904 trials, and would probably have done the same again in 1905 had it not been for the presence of a liver-and-white dog of Sir Thomas Boughey’s breeding, also belonging to Mr. Eversfield. The spaniels above named have stood out from all competitors at the time of their prime, and none others have done so. Their type of formation has all been the same except in the case of the clumber. That is, they have been neither long nor low, but short-backed and active, with legs at least as long as the dogs were deep through the heart. Although one of them was a black in colour, he was most removed from the dog-show black field spaniels and all of them, and may safely be called by the re-created term “springer.”
MR. EVERSFIELD’S FIELD TRIAL WINNING ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIELS OF A LIVER-AND-WHITE BREED KEPT FOR WORK ALONE IN THE FAMILY OF THE BOUGHEYS OF AQUALATE FOR A HUNDRED YEARS
RED AND WHITE FIELD TRIAL WELSH SPRINGER SPANIELS BELONGING TO MR. A. T. WILLIAMS
FIELD TRIAL ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIELS OF THE LIVER-AND-WHITE (AQUALATE) BREED BELONGING TO MR. C. C. EVERSFIELD
But meantime there have been other good although not remarkable dogs at the field trials. Mr. Eversfield has had many, Mr. Alexander has always been hard to beat, Mr. Phillips has had some excellent clumbers, as also has Mr. Winton Smith, besides Beechgrove Bee already spoken of, and Mr. B. J. Warwick has had good dogs. Mr. A. T. Williams, of Neath, has had good teams of red-and-white springers, which have, as far as the shows are concerned, monopolised the classes for this one colour. It is said to have been bred true to this red-and-white mixture for many years in a few families in South Wales. At the same time, there were other families in South Wales which bred spaniels of many colours for the woodcocks and the very stiff coverts of the South-West corner, or Little England beyond Wales, as it was called. Thirty-five years ago the author shot over black-and-white, liver-and-white, and red-and-white dogs, all from the same litters, and these were the most determined hunters and the quickest stayers then known. But as the author knows of none now representative of them except the red-and-white Welsh springers, these may be taken for the type, and they are undoubted hard workers and quite careless of bramble and gorse.
Retrieving spaniels have been very highly spoken of by as practical big bag-makers as the late Sir Fred Milbank, who used them for grouse driving. All the breeds above named retrieve well except the Welsh springers, none of which have been broken with that intention, so far as is known to the author. Mr. Williams only works spaniels in coverts and in teams, and believes that a retriever proper is the best for his own work.