Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-03
FIELD AND KENNEL

r. Purcell Llewellin the developer of the
great strain of English settlers that bear
his name. has not been much before the
public of late years and the publication
of an interesting letter written by the
venerable sportsman to his friend, Jesse
Sherwood of Chicago, was a welcome
surprise to his friends all over the coun-
| try. AS is well known Mr.. Llewellin IS a
gentleman Of larse estate and his letter is
written from his home, Lyth Hill. near
Shrewsbury. under date of January Il.
Mr.. Llewellin says that he Is now seventy
two years of age and in excellent health
and spirits. All sportsmen will be in
terested in some extracts from his let
ter and the views he holds of American
estimate of them as the correct one. In
speaking of conditions in England he
says: Things in this country are not
what they were. They get more and
ing quite a tyranny. Taxes, taxes. all
going up, no property is safe and no one
knows what tomorrow may bring. AS for
shooting. you Americans have little idea
man shoots to dogs. How could our thou
sands Of shooters in this little island get
room to do that? I say shoot to dogs,
but they call me an old fOssil-not one in
a InOuSdn0 SHOOTS 10 Jugs, uOI CdA Cd ".
They have game driven by a line OF
men, and fly like the wind Your shoot
ing is like ours 100 years ago"
Speaking Of American settlers Mr..
Lewellin writes LAS for your puppies,
the dog I sent Bevan was very hand
some one-my breed, as 1t has been with
me for years. Americans have, to my mlno,
spoiled it. The lust they have out there
for all this, burning it up this intense
competition for range, range. range, has
altered the animal-it is the same In any
animal, man included. Americans have
for generations been cultivating the at
tributes Of a greyhound in their settlers
until the animal is taking on the form Of
a greyhound. / never saw an Amer1-
can setter, and / have seen 2 great
many of them that could not be picked
out anywhere. Like greyhound-sharp
nose, prick ears, long legs, tucked-up
belly. long tail, no coat or feathers-to
my mind, ugly as sin. but no doubt a
winning type in country where they
think more of range than anything and
hunt their dogs on horseback say
range / don't say pace, for We have
dogs here as fast and faster than any
American setter l ever saw, and l have
seen some that came with pretty good
name. No, our dogs are fast enough,
and IL sent out yoAng and unbroken. you
would find them as fast as anything, but
we encourage bird-finding chiefly. And
no dog can win here merely by Salloping.
Thus, the type is different.
Mr.. Llewellin has always been a field
trial enthusiast, and has usually handled
his own dogs, being very partial to
brace stakes of which he has won a
great many in England and Ireland. We
regret that want of space prevents pub
lfcation of his letter in it's entirety, for
every word would be of interest, as
coming from one who has done more
than all others combined toward pro-
ducing the present type of field trial
dogs. American owners and breeders.
despite their respect for the man. will
not accept his verdict on the qualities
of their dogs as correct. They realize
that he has never been in this country,
and has consequently seen very few Of
Americans, he fails to recognize the
fact that range and bird sense are
not inconsistent qualities in bird dogs.
Mr.. Llewellin and his good friend Mr..
Sherwood live good deal in the past.
and are prone to regard all other things
as best. He is the pioneer of setter
breeders, however. and his American
friends will all wish him continued
health and happiness.
Harry X Bliss Will Aman and Jack
Keane went down to Greylings, Mr.. Bliss
Hall, in an automobile recently. The
roads We're awful, but they got there
all the same. They were so worn out by
the trip that the prospective coon hunt
was abandoned for time. The automo-
bile will make the return trip by boat
Mr.. p. G. Bucklin of Hyattsvil1e has
disposed of his fine LleWellin dog Greg
more King to DR.. Guy Latimer. Dr.
Latimer is very proud of him. and says
bile. Mr.. Bucklin still has his good old
bitch Snow, and says there is lot Of
] hunt still left in her
Last fall, when these notes were be-
gun, mention was made Of an unusual in
cident that happened on the farm Of Mr.
England, near Evansville. Md. A quail
was Frightened from her nest. and. failing
to return. the eggs were placed under a
setting hen Three of them matched out,
and the little strangers, strong and
healthy, grew up with the other chicks
We expressed a wish at the time to learn
their subsequent history. A friend of Mr..
England sends us the information that
they have never failed to root with the
chickens. and are apparently perfectly
domesticated. We will be glad to have
another chapter in their biography and
learn Of their actions when the mating
will the biological survey kindly advise
us as to the relationship between the hen
and the quails?
A correspondent recently asked the
following questions of an authority on
field dogs:
L. Is q Llewellin a distinct breed Of
setter?
z II an English setter, why the name
of LleWeIlin?
The answers given were
]. No; it Is a strain of English setter.
9 It's perpetuation as distinct strain
lis easily attributable to the splendid quail
titles afield displayed by its representa-
tiyes.