146 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



gave precedence to a well - marked silver 

 tabby. 



" Amongst these outcasts was a cat of 

 striking beauty, whose like has not been seen 

 again. This was ' Sylvie,' of unknown pedi- 

 gree, owned by the late Mrs. Christopher, at 

 whose death she became the property of the 

 late Miss Saunders, of Peterborough. A 

 beautiful portrait of this exquisite chinchilla 

 is given in Mr. Harrison Weir's book ' Our 

 Cats.' When judging at the Crystal Palace in 

 1886, this connoisseur and judge of world- 

 wide repute awarded her first prize, medal, 

 and special for the best long-haired cat, 

 getting over the difficulty of her silvery, 

 unmarked coat by calling her a very light 

 blue tabby, though the puzzle was to find the 

 tabby. 



" Another chinchilla of the early 'eighties 

 was Miss Florence Moore's ' Queenie,' who 

 would, had chinchilla classes been provided at 

 that time, have been loaded with champion- 

 ships and honours. In colour she was as 

 light as any of our present-day celebrities, and 

 might easily, from her freedom from markings, 

 have earned the dubious compliment of the 



MRS. BALDING S " SILVER LAMBKIN. 

 (Photo : E. Landor, Ealing.) 



uninitiated so highly prized by owners of 

 chinchillas of being mistaken for a grubby 

 white. Miss Florence Moore, who later on 

 had one of the best and largest catteries in 

 the country, bred ' Queenie ' from her ' Judy,' 

 winner of many first prizes, a heavily marked 

 silver tabby of Mrs. Brydges' noted breed, 

 and ' Fez,' a light silver cat with indefinite 

 stripes. 



" Mrs. Brydges can claim the distinction 

 of having owned, something like half a cen- 

 tury ago, some' of the first long-haired cats 

 ever imported into England. A coincidence 

 worthy of note is that though there is no 

 record of her having bred or possessed a 

 chinchilla, two never-to-be-forgotten pairs of 

 chinchilla kittens Miss Florence Moore's 

 ' Chloe ' and ' Dinah,' winners of first and 

 medal on three successive occasions at the 

 Crystal Palace, Brighton, and Bexley, 1887 

 (they being the only chinchillas at any of 

 these shows), and Miss Gresham's ' Silver 

 Lambkins,' who swept the board in 1888, 

 winning the specials at the Crystal Palace from 

 forty-six pairs of other competitors of all 

 colours could in each case trace descent to 

 the Cheltenham stock ' Chloe ' and ' Dinah,' 

 through the afore-mentioned ' Judy ' and the 

 ' Silver Lambkins,' through their sire ' Rah- 

 man,' also bred by Mrs. Brydges. 



" Still more remarkable, these two couples 

 of youthful prodigies were first cousins, on 

 the other side of their pedigrees, the noted 

 "Fluffy II.' and 'Beauty' being bred by 

 Mrs. Vallance. 



" ' Chinnie,' the Mother of chinchillas, is 

 familiar in name to every breeder of this 

 lovely variety, and the following letter, of 

 the early 'eighties, relating to her birth and 

 buying, will perhaps prove interesting to the 

 up-to-date silver fancier. It is copied from 

 the original in the possession of Mrs. Val- 

 lance. One guinea appears to have been a 

 price to talk of in those days. Now, one 

 would be tempted to hide the fact of such a 

 small amount, and if a specimen were offered 

 to us at this low figure we should certainly 

 desire it to be sent on approval. 



