And now we come to the most celebrated strain of the modern Setter - indeed, we may safely call it the only English Setter now existing that deserves the name of a distinct strain. This was originally evolved, and has been continued up to the present time, by the judgment and devotion of its founder, Mr. Richard Purcell Llewellin. Mr. Llewellin, the descendant of a noted old Welsh sportsman of that name, commenced Setter breeding very soon after the first inauguration of field trials, nearly forty years ago. He began with black-and-tans and with some of the old-fashioned English Setters. He entered these at trials and was badly beaten. He then purchased some of the finest and best Irish Setters that could be procured, and with them and their progeny he won extensively at dog shows and sometimes at trials. Not yet satisfied, he tried crossing the Irish with the Laverack, and obtained thereby some exceedingly handsome specimens, which at shows were well-nigh invincible. Among these he bred a bitch called Flame, a perfectly formed red-and-white of wonderful quality. This bitch, it is worthy of note, after being sold by him, became the ancestress of the fashionable show winners of past and present days, and perhaps there are very few of these winners now which do not contain some of her blood.

His experience of the English and Irish cross was that although, as stated, the progeny was invariably most handsome, yet it did not possess the sporting instincts and capacities of either parent. Mr. Llewellin, therefore, made further search for his ideal, and at last found it.

In 1871 he purchased, at a very high figure, the brace winners at the Shrewsbury Trials, Dick and Dan. This splendid brace of dogs was the property of Mr. Statter, Lord Derby's agent, and had been bred by him by Armstrong's Duke, of Sir V. Corbet's strain noted above, out of Rhaebe, who was nearly pure Gordon (by Gordon I do not mean black-and-tan). Mr. Llewellin discarded Dick as vastly inferior to his brother Dan, and then crossed Dan with the best pure Laverack bitches; and thus originated this celebrated breed, individuals of which speedily eclipsed, both at shows and trials, every other strain, and which still remains in its owner's hands, pure, unstained, and as good and handsome as ever.

Mr. Llewellin's strain embraces and includes all the celebrated blood of the old kennels that we have noted above, and it has only been by the most careful and scientific selection, which, of course, called for a judgment of which few men are possessed, that he has so notably succeeded. The more perfectly shaped animals were selected, and this with the greatest rigour, while all that was at all faulty was discarded. The character also and the innate proclivities of each individual were most carefully studied, and the minor faults and infirmities in one individual were corrected by selecting a mate which, in those special particulars, he considered calculated to do so. In this manner Mr. Llewellin may be said to have attained the object for which he had worked for many years - viz. the combining of great beauty with surpassing field excellence. And this was abundantly proved by the practical invincibility of his strain, both in the field and on the show-bench.

Some fine specimens of this strain were exported many years since to America, where they became very celebrated, and appear to have entirely regenerated the transatlantic aboriginal. Report says, however, that in these days "the Llewellin Setter," as bred by American breeders, has greatly deteriorated. This is not remarkable, as inbreeding without the most scientific selection must always be a failure. Some people breed entirely from pedigree, irrespective of looks and performances, others entirely from looks, others again entirely from performances. Each of these methods by itself is suicidal, and must result sooner or later, and generally sooner, in the utter ruin of any breed.

The Llewellin Setter has been much used for crossing with other breeds, and would have been more so if individuals had not been so very hard to procure. Mr. Llewellin has always been very jealous of his dogs, and on several occasions has refused sums of four figures for certain individuals. Still, wherever this blood has been used, as in the kennels of Captain Lonsdale, who had some good old blood of his own, Colonel Cotes, Mr. Webber, the well-known Bishops, and others, it has had a marked effect. The most noteworthy instance of this that the writer can call to mind was in the case of Mr. Webber, who purchased, many years ago, a Llewellin puppy at Aldridge's, and mixing the blood with his own curious breed, produced such a celebrated dog as "Prince W." In the next generations, however, the principles of selection were disregarded, and the usual result appeared.

The Llewellin Setter has a peculiar character of its own which once seen is unmistakable. On more than one occasion the writer himself has identified individuals where he had no suspicion whatever that they could be present. He saw a dog once in the street of a town in the wilds of British Columbia, and spotted it at once.

The English Setter that one now sees at field trials and shows has dwindled down to a much smaller size than that of its progenitors. Mr. Llewellin's strain alone seems to have preserved, very nearly if not quite, its normal stature. Here are the measurements of a dog and a bitch at present in his possession; they are of the same litter, of unstained pedigree, and about four years old; both have great beauty and quality, and are perfect in the field.

Dan Wind 'Em. Height at shoulder, 25⅛ in.; length from tip of nose to root of tail, 34 in.; length of head, 9in.; girth of chest, 32¼ in.; girth of loin, 24½ in.

Ruth Wind 'Em. Height, 23¼ in.; length, 34m.; head, 9in.; chest, 3o¼ in.; loin, 24m.

Just as the appearance of the Llewellin Setter has a peculiar character, so also have its qualities in the field - there is something as unmistakable as it is indescribable in the "go" of a pure Llewellin, and the nose is quite unrivalled. The generality of the breed have an innate faculty for finding birds at immense distances and galloping up to them, that the writer has never seen in any other strain. There is also another peculiarity that he has never observed elsewhere, and only in a few specimens even of this famous breed. It is that of "spotting" birds in their range and leaving them till the next "quarter." The fact is, the nose is so sensitive that the dog detects the scent of birds an enormous way off, and its courage, at the same time, is so high that it will not condescend to go to it as yet. The writer has often watched a dog of this breed ranging at a terrific pace from hedge to hedge slightly toss his chin up at right angles to his beat, without pausing, several times; on the return range he would come back like a hurricane, and take up each several point as he came to it, returning often from the first some yards down wind in order to make the second, and so on.