whose famous picture has already been alluded to. The so-called St. John's, or lesser Newfoundland, of which much has been written, appears to have died out altogether. No one breeds him now, and if he survives at all it is in the smooth or wavy-coated retrievers that have made such progression of late.

The author of " Dogs of the British Isles" had a typical specimen of the Newfoundland-given him on the death of the "Old Bushman" (whose works on travel and sport are most interesting)—a dog the latter had imported as the best of the race he could find; handsome, but not quite so big as many of the English specimens, he standing 28in. high at the shoulders. His colour was a rusty black, which is seldom seen now, but no doubt quite correct, and he had double dew claws. My old and esteemed friend, the late Mr. William Lort, always impressed upon me that this "rustiness" in the colour was correct, and further remarked that all the best dogs he ever saw abroad possessed it to a larger or smaller extent.

A contributor, writing to the Field in 1869, and he wrote with authority, said with regard to this tinge : "The black dogs, especially when young, often appear to have a brown tinge in their coats. It is to be seen more or less in most dogs. Combing will often remove it if the dog has not been well kept,

but I do not think much combing is advisable. Nor is the slight brown tinge (not visible in all lights) ugly, nor inconsistent with the purity of breed, though it would be better absent." A writer much earlier than this, namely, in 1819, says that twenty or thirty years ago the Newfoundlands were "large, roughcoated, curly-haired, liver and white dogs." Occasionally we now see a Newfoundland dog entirely liver or brown in colour, and doubtless this hue is inherited much in the same way as the brown tinge, and therefore I quite agree with the description of the specialist club, which does not penalise that tint. The brown or brown and white dogs it does not acknowledge, and naturally gives preference to those specimens entirely black.

In the early days of the canine exhibitions, prizes were often given to black and white dogs when shown in the same division as the blacks, but the latter, when equal in excellence to their more variegated cousins, in nine cases out of ten beat them, so breeders gave their attention mostly to the whole-coloured variety, which causes it to be the popular one of the present day. held at Birmingham, in 1859, was entirely confined to sporting dogs, but the succeeding one in 1860 included a class for Newfoundlands, and this induced an entry of only half a dozen, a bitch of Lieut.

The first dog show

Colonel Inge's winning the first prize. Of this bitch it was said at the time that "she was one of the handsomest ever seen, and had been bred at St. John's, from the best stock in the colony." At the Agricultural Hall, in 1862, classes for both dogs and bitches were provided. There was a capital entry of forty-one, and Mr. A. Minton's Nigger won in dogs, and a Mr. Davies both prizes in bitches. Birmingham had seventeen entries in the same year, and at a large exhibition, also in 1862, which took place in Holborn, nineteen entries were obtained, a dog named Azoff first. Two years later, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, at the London show, won first prize with a fine dog called Cabot, and most of these early winners were either black or with a little white on their chests, or on one or more of their feet. H.R.H.'s Cabot must not be confounded with Mr. T. Burgess' dog of the same name, which did a considerable amount of winning a few years later. However, few of the above were of any particular excellence; but in 1867, at Curzon Hall, we were introduced to the Rev. S. Atkinson's Cato, who was by Heenan I. out of Nellie. Both the sire and dam of Cato were said to be descended from imported parents.

Cato was an exceptionally fine black dog, and for a series of years remained the monarch of the benches.

In 1869 he won in a class of sixteen dogs at the show held in Laycock's Dairy Yard, where Mr. E. Nichols was an exhibitor, and old show-goers will recollect that the cover of the catalogue issued on this occasion was adorned with an engraving of Landseer's "Distinguished Member.'

Then in 1870 Cato gained additional notoriety. It was in that year his owner was staying at the charming little watering place, Newbiggin-by-theSea, on the Yorkshire coast. Cato was there, too, to blow the dust of town from him, for just before he had been in London, and as usual, winning the chief prize at the dog show there. As Mrs. Atkinson was throwing her husband's walking-stick into the water for her dog to retrieve, two ladies bathing in the sea appeared in danger of drowning, and cried loudly for help. Though Mr. Atkinson could not swim, he made his way to the ladies, who, now and then washed off their feet by the heavy surge, had lost their presence of mind. One lady was safely got into a boat that had been brought to the rescue; the other, with Mr. Atkinson, was in danger of being drowned. Then Cato came to the rescue, and, swimming to his owner, allowed him to put his arm over his shoulder, and so took his exhausted master and his fair charge to the shore, where the dog received the plaudits of the terrified spectators.

No doubt, taking one exhibition with another, the classes provided for Newfoundlands were almost as well filled about twenty years ago as they have been later. For instance, there were in the dog class but nine entries at Curzon Hall in 1891, five in bitches, and nine in a division for novices; whilst five of the latter were competing earlier on, thus there were but eighteen dogs benched at this great show in three classes. This can hardly be taken as a fair average, for most modern shows would provide additional classes for the black and white variety, and the Kennel Club Shows usually have from twenty to thirty competitors. At Preston (Lancashire) Show, which took place in the spring of 1892, special arrangements had been made to make Newfoundlands one of the features in the Hall. Here the judge, Mr. Mansfield, an ardent admirer of the breed, and one of the promoters of the gathering, by his endeavours got together by far the best collection of Newfoundlands that had been seen at any show for years. Altogether 128 dogs and bitches competed, they being divided into ten classes. No doubt this will remain a record for some time to come.

However, before entering more fully into the Newfoundland in 1893, mention must be made of one or two giants of the race that won most of the