66 Nebraskaland • April 2019
THE LAST STOP
By Jeff Kurrus
BACK TO MERLIN
The photographers at Nebraskaland Magazine shoot a lot
of photos. So many, in fact, that we must have a searchable
database to find our images. For us, this cloud-based system
is called Merlin and, at the time of publication, contains
212,604 images, with many more that have yet to be entered.
For an image to be in Merlin, it is culled from a larger group
of images and ID'd. Person, place, activity, etc., are recorded
so they can be easily searched. We also include animal
names and, when applicable, their scientific names.
So when I recently received the following letter from
reader Bob Zimmerman of Lincoln, I couldn't help but smile
and cringe at the same time:
Hi Jeff,
I've been a subscriber and collector of Outdoor Nebraska/
Nebraskaland Magazine for many years and have a collection
dating back to the 1930s. I'm also a long time Brittany owner,
occasional breeder and member of the American Brittany Club.
I've noticed a recurring error in Nebraskaland. Quite frequently
the dog breed Brittany is referred to as a Brittany Spaniel. The
American Kennel Club no longer refers to the breed as a spaniel
and hasn't for close to 40 years. When this was changed, the
logic was that the Brittany pointed game and that was not
characteristic of any of the other spaniels. So the AKC dropped
spaniel and the breed is now referred to as the Brittany.
I'm hoping that bringing this to your attention will get the
minor offense corrected. I've got to admit, I always cringe and
grit my teeth when an outdoor publication incorrectly refers to
Brittanys as spaniels.
Similarly, the AKC breed name Pointer is correct. The breed is
not an English Pointer.{
After a little research of my own, it looks like Mr.
Zimmerman is right. I'm sure glad Merlin has a correction
option for the 821 Brittany and pointer images I've
catalogued. One last note: the picture above is of a Brittany,
and was photographed at Pheasant Bonanza in Burt County.
See, I'm learning already.