The above title includes every kind of field spaniel except the Sussex and Clumber, and it is therefore necessary to allude to the Norfolk Spaniel as well as to the Welsh and Devon Cocker. The Norfolk spaniel is still found scattered throughout the country, and is generally of a liver and white colour, sometimes black and white, and rarely lemon and white; usually a good deal ticked with colour in the white. Higher on the leg than the Clumber or the Sussex, he is generally more active than either, sometimes almost rivalling the setter in lightness of frame; his ears are long, lobular, and heavily feathered, and he is a very useful dog when thoroughly broken, but he is apt to be too wild in his behaviour and too wide in his range until he has had a longer drill than most sportsmen can afford, and in retrieving he is often hard mouthed. When thoroughly broken, however, he is an excellent aid to the gun; but he is so intermixed with other breeds that it is impossible to select any particular specimen as the true type.

With regard to the Welsh and Devon cocker of former times, they are now scarcely to be met with in a state of purity and of the regulation size (201b. to 251b.); most of them have been crossed with the springer, or by improved management have been raised in weight to 301b. at the least, which militates against their use in some coverts; and in a vast majority of teams the modern field spaniel must be regarded as more like the springer than the cocker. The Welsh and Devon cockers are both liver-coloured, not of the Sussex golden hue, but of a dead true liver colour. Their ears are not too large for work, and on the show bench would by many judges be considered too small; but they are always lobular, without the slighest tendency to a vine shape. Throughout the country there are numberless breeds of cockers of all colours, varying from white, black, or liver to red and white, lemon and white, liver and white, and black and white. Ladybird is nearly all red, but she comes of strains usually all liver or all black.

The modern field spaniel should be the best made "all-round" shooting dog of the day, for he is expected to perform equally well on land and on the water, in covert, hedgerow, or turnips. He is also called on to retrieve, whilst he must be thoroughly steady, reliable under all circumstances, however trying to his nature, and he must never tire. In order to obtain this marvellous combination of powers and varied qualifications, our modern breeders have crossed the old-fashioned cocker with the Sussex, and then, by careful selection as to size, points, and colour, they have established a breed, of which Brush may be taken as the type in its best form.

The Following Is The Numerical Allotment Of The Points Of The Field Spaniel

Grand Total 100.

1. The Head (Value 15)

1. The head (value 15) should be long, with a marked brow but still only gradually rising from the nose, and the occipital protuberance well defined. Nose long and broad, without any tendency to the snipe form. Eye expressive, soft, and gentle, but not too full or watery.

2. The Ears (Value 5)

2. The ears (value 5) should be set on low down, lobular in shape, not over-long in the leather, or too heavily clothed with feather, which should always be wavy and free from ringlets.

3. The Neck (Value 5)

3. The neck (value 5) should be long enough to allow the nose to reach the ground easily, strong and arched, coming easily out of well-shaped shoulders.

4. Chest, Buck, And Loins (Value 20)

The chest should be deep, and with a good girth; back and loin full of muscle, and running well into one another, with wide couplings, and well-turned hind quarters.

5. The Length (Value 5)

5. The length (value 5) of the spaniel should be rather more than twice his height at the shoulder.

6. The Legs (Value 10)

6. The legs (value 10) must be full of bone and straight; elbows neither in nor out; quarters full of muscle, and stifles strong, but not very much bent.

7. The Feet (Value 10)

7. The feet (value 10) are round and cat-like, well clothed with hair between the toes; and the pads furnished with very thick horn..

8. The Colour (Value 5)

8. The colour (value 5) preferred is a brilliant black, but in the best strains of the dog an occasional liver or red puppy will appear.

9. The Coat (Value 10)

9. The coat (value 10) is flat, slightly wavy, soft and silky; the legs are well fringed or feathered like the setter, as also are the ears; there must be no topknot or curl between the eyes, indicating a cross. of the water spaniel.

10. The Tail (Value 10)

10. The tail (value 10), which is always cropped short, must have a downward carriage, and should not be set on too high.

11. The Symmetry (Value 5)

11. The symmetry (value 5) of the spaniel is considerable, and any departure from it should be penalised accordingly.

Mr. Gillett's Brush is by Boulton's Rolf out of Gillett's Nell; Rolf by Boulton's Beaver (4408) out of his Runic; Beaver by Boulton's Bruce (4412) out of Nell; Runic by Rex, brother to Rhea (2228), out of Boulton's Fan. He has only been exhibited twice, viz., at the Islington Kennel Club Show, where Mr. Lort gave him the second prize, and at Stockton, where he was placed first by Major Corven. Mr. Gillett's Nell is of the Burdett strain, but her pedigree is not well made out. While the property of Mr. Boulton, she took the first prize at Manchester and Stockton-on-Tees, and since she changed hands she has been several times exhibited, and always with success. Mr. Langdale's Ladybird is by a black Burdett dog out of a bitch by Withington's Dash out of Lort's Fan. She has only been exhibited once, when she won the first prize at Whitby in 1876. She was purchased by Mr. A. W. Langdale, of Scarborough.