Few dogs are more admired than English Setters, and those who are looked upon as professional exhibitors have not been slow to recognise the fact that when a really good young dog makes its appearance it is a formidable rival amongst all other breeds when the special prizes come to be allotted.

Seen either at its legitimate work as a gun dog or as a domestic companion, the English Setter is one of the most graceful and beautiful of the canine race, and its elegant form and feathery coat command instant admiration.  Twenty years ago it was known by several distinct names, among the more important being the Blue Beltons and Laveracks, and this regardless of any consideration as to whether or not the dogs were in any way connected by relationship to the stock which had earned fame for either of these time-honoured names.  It was the great increase in the number of shows and some confusion on the part of exhibitors that made it necessary for the Kennel Club to classify under one heading these and others which had attained some amount of notability and the old terms have gradually been dropped.

Doubtless the English Setter Club has done much since its institution in 1890 to encourage this breed of dog, and has proved the usefulness of the club by providing two very valuable trophies, the Exhibitors’ Challenge Cup and the Field Trial Challenge Cup, for competition amongst its members, besides having liberally supported all the leading shows; hence it has rightly come to be regarded as the only authority from which an acceptable and official dictum for the guidance of others can emanate.

The following is the standard of points issued by the English Setter Club:—­

* * * * *

HEAD—­The head should be long and lean, with well-defined stop.  The skull oval from ear to ear, showing plenty of brain room, and with a well-defined occipital protuberance.  The muzzle moderately deep and fairly square; from the stop to the point of the nose should be long, the nostrils wide, and the jaws of nearly equal length; flews not too pendulous.  The colour of the nose should be black, or dark, or light liver, according to the colour of the coat.  The eyes should be bright, mild, and intelligent, and of a dark hazel colour, the darker the better.  The ears of moderate length, set on low and hanging in neat folds close to the cheek; the tip should be velvety, the upper part clothed with fine silky hair.  NECK—­The neck should be rather long, muscular, and lean, slightly arched at the crest, and clean cut where it joins the head; towards the shoulder it should be larger, and very muscular, not throaty with any pendulosity below the throat, but elegant and bloodlike in appearance.  BODY—­The body should be of moderate length, with shoulders well set back or oblique; back short and level; loins wide, slightly arched, strong and muscular.  Chest deep in the brisket, with good round widely-sprung ribs,