We present results for the two-point angular correlation function of g
alaxies, omega(theta), to a limiting magnitude of r = 26. Our catalogu
e is constructed from deep imaging using the COSMIC imaging spectrogra
ph on the Hale 5-m telescope. The final sample is 95 per cent complete
to r = 26.0, yielding similar to 5700 galaxies over a 90.1-arcmin(2)
field. Our analysis shows omega(theta) for faint galaxies can be param
etrized by a power law of the form A(omega)theta(-0.8), in agreement w
ith the angular clustering statistics of shallower catalogues. The der
ived amplitude, A(omega), for our catalogue is small, but non-zero. We
combine this measurement with the latest statistical constraints on f
aint galaxy redshifts from gravitational lensing studies, which imply
that the bulk of the r less than or similar to 26 field galaxies shoul
d be at redshifts z similar to 1. We show that our derived A(omega) is
significantly lower than that predicted from the local bright, optica
lly selected galaxy correlation function using the lensing-determined
galaxy redshift distribution and modest growth of clustering. This sim
plistic model does not, however, allow for different correlation lengt
hs for different morphological classes. This is important as we would
expect to observe a varying morphological mix as a function of apparen
t magnitude in our sample. At our faintest limits we reach sufficientl
y high redshifts that differential K-corrections will result in the ob
served galaxy mix being dominated by star-bursting dwarfs and low-surf
ace-brightness irregulars, rather than the early-type systems used to
define the local bright galaxy correlation function. By adopting the c
orrelation function measured locally for these low-surface-brightness
galaxies and assuming modest clustering evolution, we obtain reasonabl
e agreement between our model and observations. This model, therefore,
supports the scenario in which the high number density and low cluste
ring amplitude of faint galaxies are produced by normally clustered st
ar-forming dwarf galaxies at modest redshifts.