Eugene,
1830 is not that long ago, when you are speaking of bird dogs. The Second Duke of York, finding himself imprisoned from 1406-1413 spent that time translating the book "Livre de la Chasse" to English. This book had been written during the middle 1300s by Gaston de Foix, Vicomte de Bearn.
Mentioned in this tome are orange and lemon belton "Spaniels", that were called that because the examples the writer saw were from Spain-but, they were clearly Setters. By the mid 1300s they were well established as a breed, and had been for quite some time, perhaps from about 1000 AD.
No one can be sure when the breed developed this trait, but, the dogs were bred to "Sett" or crouch when a net was tossed over them and the birds they were pointing.
It would take a while for guns to be developed that were specific to the sport of "tir au vol", or, wingshooting, but King Charles II brought a pair back from France in May, of 1660, after the monarchy was restored, and he was invited back from exile. Charles had picked up a bad habit from his years of exile, namely, wingshooting. Although the guns needed development and improvement, the bird dogs he would have used were very well established by that time.
They just weren't Labs.
Best,
Ted
