by Keith Erlandson-2-
The 'modus operandi' was to work the crouching Spaniel into the wind and when it touched the air scent of a covey of Partridges, it would crouch immobile and allow the net to be drawn over it and the birds. The crouching Spaniels were worked in identical fashion in conjunction with Falcons but an interesting point emerges that falconry always was an elitist sport of the ruling classes whereas netting Game was a more menial task, normally carried out by the Lord of the Manor's retainers. Nevertheless, the fictitious 18th century squire, Sir Roger de Coverly, was credited by his creator with having netted 40 coveys of Partridges in one season.
Another function of the land Spaniels was to find and flush Game from thicker cover for the short-winged Goshawks to pursue and also to flush Game into pre-positioned nets. These dogs flushed immediately on direct contact with body scent and their performance was the antithesis of the land Spaniel's crouching to the scent of Game. It is my belief that those land Spaniels which showed a tendency to hesitate on Game scent were encouraged by training to convert this hesitation into a steady 'set' or point, and were bred to other land Spaniels of similar tendencies and so emerged our Setter breeds. The land Spaniels which showed no such inclination to 'hold' on their Game but would go right in and 'spring' it were encouraged to be bold questers and 'springers' of Game and so evolved the Spaniels whose function was to cause the Game to 'spring' into the air'. I also think it is highly probable that in medieval times, or even before, crouchers and springers might emerge from the same litter and these individuals would be encouraged to pursue their natural inclinations and develop into spaniel-like or setter-like dogs as we think of them today.
I believe that the Welsh Springer Spaniel is of greater antiquity than the English Springer Spaniel, as it roots go back to the Welsh King, Hywel Dda, the lawmaker in the l0th century, who most definitely used these spaniels for hawking. The English Springer seems to have evolved along different lines at a later period and I cannot find any evidence that the ancestors of the Welsh and English Springer have ever been interbred. Certainly ear formation, pigmentation and temperament is completely different in the two breeds today whereas many English Springers and English Setters seem to have much more in common. There also emerges the somewhat shadowy figure of the 'Norfolk Spaniel' which seems to have played its part in the development of the English Springer.