142 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



prize-winner. ' It is useless,' wrote this lady, 

 ' to think of exhibiting her on account of her 

 green eyes.' What a change of opinion has 

 marked the flight of eight years ! " 



It will be observed that, as regards the 

 description of chinchillas and shaded silvers, 

 there is a distinction and yet no very great 

 difference, and herein lay the difficulty of 

 retaining these two classes at our shows. The 

 lightest silvers were deemed eligible for the 

 chinchilla class, and then came the question 

 for exhibitor and judge to draw the line be- 

 tween the two so-called varieties, and to decide 

 what degree of paleness constituted a chin- 

 chilla and what amount of dark markings 

 would relegate the specimen into the shaded 

 silver class. The cat world became agitated, 

 exhibitors were puzzled, and judges exasper- 

 ated. There were letters to the cat papers 

 on the " silver muddle." Show secretaries 

 were worried with inquiries. I recollect a 

 would-be exhibitor writing to me sending 

 a piece of her silver cat's fur, and asking 

 whether her puss should be in the chinchilla 

 or shaded silver class ; but even with her 



knows a black or white or brown tabby, but 

 how can we exhibitors discern between the 

 number of shadings on our silver cats as to 

 which class they belong ? Do kindly air my 

 grievance, and oblige." 



It was quite pathetic to see the faces of dis- 

 appointed exhibitors at the Westminster show 

 of 1901, when several beautiful creatures who 

 had travelled many a weary mile to be penned 

 and admired were rewarded with a " Wrong 

 Class " ticket only. They were either too 

 light or too dark for the class in which their 

 owners had entered them, and all hope of 

 honour and glory and golden coins and silver 

 cups vanished into thin air ! At one show I 

 recollect a cat was accounted by the judge a 

 chinchilla and a shaded silver, and he came 

 off very well with special prizes for both 

 varieties. No doubt he really was either one 

 or the other, or both ! 



It was no wonder, therefore, that a reaction 

 set in, and exhibitors and judges felt alike that 

 something must be done, and that, at any rate 



" FULMEK ZAIDA." 



SILVER, OWNED BY LADY DECIES. 



(Photo : E. Landor, Baling.) 



lengthy description and the sample before me, 

 I dared not venture an opinion, and I used 

 generally to reply to such letters by saying 

 I did not know in which class to enter my 

 own silver cat, and so I was going to keep 

 him at home. 



One correspondent, appealing through the 

 columns of the papers, wrote : " Everyone 



for a time, it would be better to have only the 

 two classes for silvers and silver tabbies, and 

 that specials might be given to encourage the 

 lightest cats. The abolition of the threefold 

 classification was therefore taken into consider- 

 ation when the Silver Society was broken up 

 by the departure of Mrs. Champion to America, 

 and the Silver and Smoke Persian Cat Society 



