Whether the dog under consideration should be called the Black-and-tan or the. Gordon Setter is a subject open to controversy; but of one thing there is no doubt, as the authentic records of breeders prove, that many of the best modern Black-and-tan Setters have a large commixture of that Gordon Castle blood which became in the early part of last century so famous as to stamp the varietal name of Gordon Setters on its possessors.

Whether the original colour was black-and-tan or black, white, and tan, is doubtful, and the question has been debated at great length in the Field and other periodicals, and it would be futile and quite impossible in such a brief monograph of this breed to reopen the question. Suffice it that the balance of opinion seems to favour the statement that the black, white, and tan was more greatly in evidence at this early date when the general body of sportsmen began to take more practical interest and greater care in the breeding of those animals which ministered to their sport.

Every practical breeder is well aware that, given a parti-coloured race to begin with, it is easy by elimination to produce what he wishes, not in colour only but also in structural change. Fashion has its cycles in dogs as in everything else, and in those early days, as it is now, it was not a difficult matter for one strong breeder to produce his own ideal, and by perseverance to induce many followers and believers. In this way one can explain how our numerous varieties of dogs have originated, and in our exhibitions of dogs at the present day we have examples of the original breed diverging in type and outward appearance to such an extent that none but an expert could possibly associate these various varieties with a common ancestor, and that of a comparatively recent date.

Admitting that the Black-and-tan Setter had a common ancestor with the English and Irish Setters, most probably from a setting Spaniel, as our earliest authorities seem unanimously to assert (Daniel, in his "Rural Sports" quotes from a document dated 1685 such an instance, and history also records that Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, systematically broke in setting dogs in 1385), does it not therefore, in the light of our greater knowledge, seem an easy transition to have produced our present Setter without having had recourse to the many mythical crosses that many writers in their ingenuity have ascribed to them, in their anxiety to account for the particular type as seen in the Black-and-tan Setter ? Does it not seem exceedingly probable that, by selecting a long-legged Spaniel, a very easy step in the production of a Setter has been gained? When, too, one sees the present type of exhibition Spaniel, and how by following this process to what an extreme lowness in leg and length of body, etc., has been carried, cannot one easily follow a graduation towards the other extreme? Is it necessary, therefore, to believe that the peculiar points of the Black-and-tan Setter have been produced by crossing with the numerous other varieties of Hound, Collie, Bloodhound, etc.? Undoubtedly the necessary touch of romance in the history of the breed is supplied, if we accept the story of the poaching Collie at Gordon Castle, and to which many of the undoubted good qualities of this breed are ascribed. Are we to accept the theory of the Bloodhound cross, because of the pronounced "haw" in the eye of this Setter and the high occipital protuberance, both of which in our present animals are not so marked as they were twenty years ago, and happily the former feature is now rarely noticeable? How often was this peculiarity of the orbit evident in our best specimens of Sussex and Clumber Spaniel, and yet there was no suggestion of Bloodhound cross promulgated in their case! In the same way, to explain the characteristic colour of this breed we have had many advocates that it was obtained from the Collie aforesaid or the Bloodhound.

The late Rev. T. Pearce states that 1820 was the period when this breed was brought into special prominence at Gordon Castle. One cannot forget that the Irish Setter, or at any rate dogs of that colour, as a distinct breed have been longer in existence ; and coming down to more recent times, we have trustworthy evidence of a fresh introduction of Irish blood to produce the rich mahogany tan which is a special feature of the Black-and-tan Setter at the present time. To give an instance of this, when exhibitions were not the colossal ventures that they are now, and when all the varieties of Setters had to compete together, a noted breeder of the Black-and-tan, the late Mr. Binnie Bishopriggs, exhibited a Black-and-tan bitch, that was awarded a second prize, being beaten by an Irish Setter. In those days the tan markings were undoubtedly of a lighter shade, and the rich deep colour of the Irish dog attracted the attention of this noted breeder, and suggested the wish that if he could obtain such beautiful tan with the deep glossy black, a more handsome animal would be the result. The experiment was tried, and some notable winners were produced. In the early days of exhibitions undoubtedly a number of Black, white, and tan Setters appeared in the ring; but the force of public opinion, whether from the novelty or otherwise, gradually asserted itself in favour of the Black-and-tan, and the tricoloured dogs disappeared.

At the first dog show, held at Newcastle in June, 1859, Mr. J. Jobling's Dandy, a Black-and-tan, was successful in a class open to the varieties of Setter, and in the following November, at Birmingham, Mr. Burdett's Brougham gained the award. At those early exhibitions and before the varieties were classified, the Black-and-tan Setters were very prominent in the prize list, so much so that the admirers of the other varieties induced the management to provide separate classes.

It was indeed a misfortune that breeding should have banished the tricoloured dogs, because, apart from the question of whether this was the original colour in the locality whence this particular animal sprang, there can be no difference of opinion as to their beauty and even advantages from a working point of view. It would not be a difficult matter to resuscitate this charming combination of colour, since all breeders know that numbers of puppies in every litter of Black-and-tans exhibit white markings to a more or less extent, possibly an additional proof of the prominence given to this colour in the early days of the breed. The hope expressed in the First Edition of this work that classes would be provided for such at our exhibitions has unfortunately not been fulfilled.