=56 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM remarkably well, they more than hold their own. The most distinguished performer by far was Mr. Winton Smith's

Beechgrove Bee, a bitch whose work was practically faultless, and the first Field Trial Champion among Spaniels. Other good Clumbers who earned distinction in the field were Beechgrove Minette, Beechgrove Maud, the Duke of Portland's Welbeck Sambo, and Mr. Phillips' Rivington Honey, Rivington Pearl, and Rivington Reel.

The points and general description of the breed as published by both the Spaniel Club and the Clumber Spaniel Club are identical. They are as follows:

Head-Large, square and massive, of medium length, broad on top, with a decided occiput ; heavy brows with a deep stop ; heavy freckled muzzle, with well developed flew. Eyes-Dark amber ; slightly sunk. A light or prominent eye objectionable. Ears-Large, vine Leaf shaped, and well covered with straight hair and hanging slightly forward, the feather not to extend below the leather. Neck-Very thick and powerful, and well feathered underneath. Body (including size and symmetry)-Long and heavy, and near the ground. Weight of dogs about 55 lb. to 65 lb. ; bitches about 45 lb. to 55 lb. Nose-Square and flesh coloured. Shoulders and Chest-Wide and deep; shoulders strong and muscular. Back and Loin-Back straight, broad and long ; loin powerful, well let down in flank. Hind-quarters-Very powerful and well developed. Stern-Set low, well feathered, and carried about level with the back. Feet and Legs-Feet large and round, well covered with hair ; legs short, thick and strong; hocks low. Coat-Long, abundant, soft and straight. Colour-Plain white with lemon markings ; orange permissible but not desirable; slight head markings with white body preferred. General Appearance-Should be that of a long, low,

heavy, very massive dog, with a thoughtful expression.

V. THE SUSSEX SPANIEL.-This is one of the oldest of the distinct breeds of Land Spaniels now existing in the British Islands, and probably also the purest in point of descent, since it has for many years past been confined to a comparatively small number of kennels, the owners of which have :always been at considerable pains to keep their strains free from any admixture of foreign blood.

The modern race of Sussex Spaniels, as we know it, owes its origin in the main to the kennel kept by Mr. Fuller at Rosehill Park, Brightling, near Hastings. This gentleman, who died in 1847, is said to have kept his strain for fifty years or

THE SPORTING SPANIEL   157

more, and to have shot over them almost daily during the season, but at his death they were dispersed by auction, and none of them can be traced with any accuracy except a dog and a bitch which were given at the time to Relf, the head keeper. Relf survived his master for forty years, and kept up his interest in the breed to the last. He used to say that the golden tinge peculiar to the Rosehill breed came from a bitch which had been mated with a dog belonging to Dr. Watts, of Battle, and that every now and then what he termed a " sandy " pup would turn up in her litters. Owing to an outbreak of dumb madness in the Rosehill kennels, a very large number of its occupants either died or had to be destroyed, and this no doubt accounted for the extreme scarcity of the breed when several enthusiasts began to revive it about the year 1870. Mr. Saxby and Mr. Marchant are said to have had the same strain as that at Rosehill, and certainly one of the most famous sires who is to be found in most Sussex pedigrees was Buckingham, by Marchant's Rover out of Saxby's Fan.

It was from the union of Buckingham, who was claimed to be pure Rosehill-with Bebb's daughter Peggie that the great Bachelor resulted-a dog whose name is to be found in almost every latter-day pedigree, though Mr. Campbell Newington's strain, to which has descended the historic prefix " Rosehill," contains less of this blood than any other.

About 1879 Mr. T. Jacobs, of Newton Abbot, took up this breed with great success, owning, amongst other good specimens, Russett, Dolly, Brunette, and Bachelor III., the latter a dog whose services at the stud cannot be estimated too highly. When this kennel was broken up in 1881, the best of the Sussex Spaniels were acquired by Mr. Woolland, and from that date this gentleman's kennel carried all before it until it in turn was broken up and dispersed in 1905. So successful was Mr. Woolland that one may almost say that he beat all other competitors off the field, though one of them,