CREAM OR FAWN PERSIANS. 



205 



subject and state my experience. Though only a 

 novice, I have up to date succeeded in breeding 

 twenty creams two in 1899, thirteen in 1900, and 

 seven this year. I began by mating my mixed blue 

 and cream queen " Senga " to a cream torn " D'Arcy," 

 which I bought from Mr. Hutchinson, of Egglestone. 

 From this pair I got four kittens, all females two 

 cream and two marked blues. I kept the creams 

 " Josephine " and " Hazeline," winners at Westmin- 

 ster as kittens, first and second special and medal, 

 1900. Later on in the year I mated them, " Hazeline" 

 to Miss Beal's " Midshipmite," " Josephine " to her 

 " Admiral." Both litters were entirely cream, 

 " Josephine " producing six kittens, " Hazeline " pro- 

 ducing five, two of which I have kept. " Matthew " 

 and " Miriam of the Durhams " both won as kittens 

 at Manchester, and " Miriam " has since taken first 

 and specials at Barnard Castle, Westminster, and 

 Reading. " Matthew " is growing into a very hand- 

 some cat, and I hope to exhibit him at the Botanic. 

 On Saturday last, April ijth, " Hazeline " again 

 kittened and produced five creams, having again been 

 mated to " Midshipmite. ' This I think distinctly 

 proves that good ci earns can be got from a pair of 

 the same colour. On April i4th " Senga " also pre- 

 sented me with two more creams, also two marked 

 blues, this time the result of a mating with Miss 

 Beale's " Romaldkirk Toza." 



AGNES D'ARCY HILDYARD. 



Mrs. Barton Collier has two good creams, 

 "Bruin" and "Dolly of Brough." Again 

 these cats are from Miss Beal's strain, the male 

 being a fawn and the female quite one of the 

 palest of creams. 



Miss H. Cochran, who formerly took a great 

 interest in this breed, writes : " I should be 

 inclined to mate a pale cream male or female 

 with a white, and the progeny with an un- 

 marked orange, or vice versa. I had a litter 

 from ' Buttercup ' and ' Zoroaster,' consisting 

 of two oranges, two fawns, and a cream. The 

 fawn and creams were females, but all died in 

 their youth. I made other attempts with 

 similar crosses, as I had been told it was im- 

 possible to breed cream queens, and in the first 

 year all the creams were queens, and the males 

 red ! My idea was to select a male of the 

 required colour, and mate a queen of suitable 

 breeding with him, then to mate the resulting 

 queens with their own father. I believe this 

 plan would have been a success if I had followed 

 it up. My idea is that the natural males are 



"MIRIAM OF THE DURHAMS. 



(Photo: . yeoman, Barnard Castle.) 



the fawns and oranges, and that their com- 

 plementary queens are the blue tortoiseshells 

 and the ordinary tortoiseshells. No harm is 

 ever done to a cream or orange strain by cross- 

 ing with black, and it may do much good to 

 the latter by deepening the colour of the 

 oranges, and promoting patchiness as opposed 

 to streakiness in the tortoiseshells." 



I have made frequent mention of Miss Beal's 

 noted creams during my chapters on orange 

 and cream cats. These two celebrated cham- 

 pions are commonly known in the fancy as the 

 " Heavenly Twins," their registered names 

 being " Romaldkirk Admiral " and " Romald- 

 kirk Midshipmite." They are really fawn 

 Persian cats, very sound in colour, well made, 

 big boned, and are always exhibited in the pink 

 of condition, and at all seasons of the year 

 are in marvellous coat. Certainly, the cold 

 climate of the Romaldkirk cattery, which is 

 situated 730 feet above the sea level, must, 

 anyhow, suit this variety of Persian cat. I 

 suppose the day will come when these well- 



