74 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



readiness with which they impute low motives 

 to others is greatly to be deplored. 



I will here quote from an article by Mr. C. A. 

 House, the well-known editor and judge of 

 live stock. Under the heading of " The 

 Judging of Cats," Mr. House says: "All my 

 awards are based on the idea that each breed 

 possesses a distinctive fea.- 

 ture, and that distinctive 

 feature must be the one to 

 which most consideration 

 is given. After the chief 

 features come others, such 

 as shape, coat, colour, etc., 

 and the premier awards 

 should be given to cats 

 possessing the best all- 

 round properties. . . . 

 Selfs, above all things, 

 should be pure in colour. 

 For instance, a blue should 

 be blue, and a black, black. 

 Yet a little rustiness of 

 colour should not be al- 

 lowed to outweigh a host 

 of other good properties. 

 Colour, however, is hard 

 to breed rich and pure, 

 and should at all times be 

 more highly valued than ' 

 size, or even coat. The 

 same with markings. Only 

 those who have tried to 

 breed markings know how 

 difficult it is to get them 

 anything approaching per- 

 fection. Nothing is more 

 fleeting than marking, and nothing more tanta- 

 lising to the breeder. Summing up the matter, 

 my own opinion is, and has been for years, that 

 the cat fancy has been hindered and hampered 

 by judges judging the exhibits because they 

 belong to so-and-so, or had won so-and-so 

 under so-and-so. ... I was much amused 

 at one incident at Westminster where a big 

 champion had suffered defeat. The fair owner 

 was heckling the judge, and he in reply to her 

 remarks made this answer : ' It makes no 



BLUE' PERSIAN KITTENS 

 (Photo: Mrs. S. F. Clarke.) 



difference to me had the cat belonged to the 

 Queen herself ; I should then have done the 

 same. I don't judge cats on what they have 

 previously won or because they belong to any 

 particular person. I judge them on their 

 form at the time, and it makes no difference 

 to me if a cat has won fifty firsts or none at 

 all.' This reply was more 

 than the exhibitor had 

 bargained for, but all 

 honest-minded fanciers 

 must acknowledge the 

 judge was right. What is 

 sadly needed in the cat 

 fancy to-day is more of 

 this sturdy, unflinching 

 determination to judge 

 cats and not their own- 

 ers. Cat exhibitors have 

 much to learn yet, and 

 the sooner the morale of 

 the judging arena is raised 

 the more healthy will the 

 fancy become and the 

 more quickly will it ad j 

 vance." 



Another of our well- 

 known judges, Mr. T. B. 

 Mason, writing on the same 

 subject, says:- "In my 

 judging engagements I 

 have very often come 

 across exhibits with good 

 coloured eyes, but not the 

 correct shape. A small eye, 

 however good the colour 

 may be, will give the cat 

 a disagreeable, sour expression. With this shape 

 of eye we generally see a narrow, long face, 

 which should keep any exhibit out of the prize 

 list in good competitions. Let it, however, be 

 clearly understood, I do not want eyes to have 

 undue weight in the general conditions of cat 

 judging ; but they are important, and as such 

 ought to have due and careful attention at 

 the hands of breeders and judges alike. Two 

 things in the judging of short-hairs weigh 

 heavily with me, namely, pale colours and 



