aniel, and the Southern Water Spaniel, the last of these
being the progenitors of our modern strains.

The history of the Irish Water Spaniel is in many ways a very
extraordinary one. According to the claim of Mr. Justin McCarthy,
it originated entirely in his kennels, and this claim has never been
seriously disputed by the subsequent owners and breeders of these
dogs. It seems improbable that Mr. Justin McCarthy can actually have
originated or manufactured a breed possessing so many extremely marked
differences and divergences of type as the Irish Water Spaniel; but
what he probably did was to rescue an old and moribund breed from
impending extinction, and so improve it by judicious breeding, and
cross-breeding as to give it a new lease of life, and permanently
fix its salient points and characteristics. However that may be,
little seems to have been known of the breed before he took it in
hand, and it is very certain that nearly every Irish Water Spaniel
seen for the last half century owes its descent to his old dog
Boatswain, who was born in 1834 and lived for eighteen years. He must
have been a grand old dog, since Mr. McCarthy gave him to Mr. Joliffe
Tuffnell in 1849, when he was fifteen years old; and his new owner
subsequently bred by him Jack, a dog whose name appears in many
pedigrees.

It was not until 1862 that the breed seems to have attracted much
notice in England, but in that year the Birmingham Committee gave
two classes for them, in which, however, several of the prizes were
withheld for want of merit; the next few years saw these dogs making
great strides in popularity and, classes being provided at most of
the important shows, many good specimens were exhibited.

During the last few years, however, the breed seems to have been
progressing the wrong way, and classes at shows have not been nearly
so strong, either in numbers or in quality, as they used to be. Yet
there have been, and are still, quite a large number of good dogs
and bitches to be seen, and it only needs enthusiasm and co-operation
among breeders to bring back the palmiest days of the Irish Water
Spaniel.

There is no member of the whole canine family which has a more
distinctive personal appearance than the Irish Water Spaniel. With
him it is a case of once seen never forgotten, and no one who has
ever seen one could possibly mistake him for anything else than what
he is. His best friends probably would not claim beauty, in the
aes