The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-12
The Setter

In general way. as with the Pointer I will discuss briefly the early history of the Setter. Evidently, this dog is of later origin than the Pointer. By the weight of authority, the Setter descended from the Spaniel, or both the Setter and the Spaniel are offshoots from the same parent stock. After a very thorough in- vestigation of the matters am inclined to the former theory. The first authentic account of the Setter places him in the British Isles, and he seems to have evolved there from the Spaniel. the sport ing conditions of early times being such as to cause this species of evolution. or progression, as you might term it. In early days we find the four divisions of the British islands each With a Setter peculiar to itself-England with several strains all similar in general appearance, called the English Setter; Scotland with the black and tans called the Gordon Set ter Ireland with the red dog called the Irish Setter: Wales had the milk white Setter called the Jandilves. As only the English Setter is of general importance to this section, I will first notice the oth- CTS briefly.
 The Gordon Setter-The early his tory of the Gordon Setter is rather obscure. The breed was named for the Duke of Gordon, though there seems to have been other breeders of the black and tans at the same period The Gordons have never been prominent in field trials, either in this country or in England. He is a much heavier coarser dog than the English Setter, and as consequence he lacks the speed and style of the English Setter. The breed is al- most extinct in this country and is only seen occasionally at bench shows.
 The Irish Setter-In field trials in this country, the Irish Setter has also be- come practically an unknown quantity, but is shown considerably on the bench Iii early days, when the number of points counted. the red dog was more popular, but as he lacks the snap, dash and get away of the English Setter, and when quality of the performance Is given the valuation, the Irish loses because of this lack of necessary quality. While the Gordon must be a black and tan, the Irish should be a rich golden chestnut or mahogany red. White on the chest, throat or toes or a small star on the fore head, or narrow streak on the nose Is permissible. The reproduction on this page of a beautiful brace of this breed gives an excellent idea of what a cham pion Irish Setter must be to win in the present-day contests on the bench Both Of the dogs, Champion Drug Law and
 
 the limit in points. and are from the ken rel Of Otto Pohl of Fremont, Neb, who probably has the finest string of Irish Setters in this country, and his beautiful specimens must be seen to be appreci- ated. l recently seen a young dog from this pair owned by Hugh Seals of Bir- m1ngham, and it shows promise of being one of the best. MT. Pohl writes me his kennel contains some of the best breeders the world has ever produced, and his young dogs are in demand from all parts of the country from the fanciers of the red bird dog.
 Welsh or Milk-White Setter-Little is known of the Welsh or Milk White Set ter. Edward Laverack said of them: This was very ancient and well-known breed. but I am sorry to say it is dying out. They are particularly stout, hardy dogs, never tire. and unflinchng in their endeavors to find game. A close, com pact animal, and very handsome" This breed never seems to have been factor at all in America.
 Llewellyn and English Setters-Our original or native Setters in America were probably a mixture of the four breeds descended from occasional impor- tatIons that came to America in colonial days. AS with the Pointer, no early rec ords or pedigrees were kept, and we find none prior to the American Kennel and oPoi liHB riSiu, III lofo. III IaCt, IL was when the first volume of the National American Kennel Club Stud Book was published in 1879, that we might say the day Of pedigrees and records began. Even as late as that time we find many dogs recorded showing a experimentation of the various bloods of the four breeds of Setters. especially the English, Irish and Gordons, so we may say it was about that period that breeders began to use fixed strains and left the promiscuous matings of early days. As I have now reached the age of importations of straight-bred Setters, I will call atten- tion to the two strains of the English Setter-the Llewellyn and the English.
 In England lived noted sportsman, Edward Laverack. In 1895 this gentleman obtained from the Rev. A. Harrison brace of Setters called Ponto and Old Mou. Prior to this the Rev. Harrison had kept the strain pure for 35 years, running it back to 179O. After Laverack took it up, he kept the strain pure for 50 years, until they became known as the Laverack Setters. In 1871 R. Purcell Llewellyn purchased Dan and Dick, cross between Fields Duke and Statter's Rhoebe He crossed Dan and Dick on the pure Laveracks, Countess and Nellie, and produced a strain of English Setters called to this day in this country the Llewellyn Setters. To this family, has been added the product of Edward Arm strong's Old Kate, a full sister to Fields Duke, when that product was result of cross with a Laverack. Therefore, Llewellyn is an English Setter contain ing only the blood of Fields Duke, Stat ter's Phoebe and Armstrongs Kate, crossed on Laveracks. Many people think a Llewellyn Setter is fixed by color. Such is not the truth. A Llewellyn may be of any English Setter color. Blood lines, not color, fix the Llewellyn. Old Gladstone, one of the greatest Llewellyns that ever lived, was a white. black and tan in color, while Count Whitestone. one of the greatest producing Llewellyns of late years, was white and orange in color. Hence. as we have said. the Llewellyn Setter is only an English Setter bred along certain blood lines running in an unbroken chain back to the dogs mentioned above. Bitter controversies have arisen in this country over the aues- ton of calling this strain of English Set ters Llewellyns. We will not go into this controversy here, but we will say this strain of Settlers. called LlewelIyn, have given to America a greater per cent of the great field trial performers and al- most all of the sires of field trial winners have been Llewellyns. The strain seems to possess a pre-potency never possessed by any other strain of Setters in his- tory. We will now notice some of the i'm portations that have had a marked ef- feet on the Setters in America Pride of the Border and Rake were brought over by Charles H. Raymond in the spring of 1874, and Leicester and Dart by l.. H. Smith of Canada in 1875. In 1876 MT. Smith imported the bitch Petrel, then in whelp to Dan by Duke out of Phoebe.