206 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



tried and well-seasoned veterans will have to 

 retire from public life and make way for some 

 of their already noted offspring. In the North, 

 South, East, and West these " Heavenly Twins" 

 have reigned supreme, and Miss Beal must 

 almost have lost count of the number of prizes 

 won by them, which, I think I am safe in 

 saying, would give an exact record of the 

 number of times exhibited. In response to my 

 request, Miss Beal has sent me some notes re- 

 garding her cattery arrangements, She says : 

 " Most of the houses 

 old farm 



are 



buildings 



round about our stable 

 yard, and I have recently 

 utilised an old granary 

 which is over the coach- 

 house. This is about 40 

 feet long, and has a room 

 at one end, with five win- 

 dows and good ventilation 

 above. In addition I have 

 three big cat houses and 

 a loft, where most of the 

 queens reside . ' Middy ' and 

 ' Admiral ' (the ' Heavenly 

 Twins ') have small wooden 

 houses, felted inside and 

 out, with wired runs and 

 concrete floors. 



ic I have the use of two 



laundries and a tool-house fitted with fire- 

 places, and these I reserve in case of illness." 



There are no cats exhibited in better coat 

 and condition than those that come from the 

 Romaldkirk cattery, and the Misses Beal may 

 be justly proud of their splendid specimens 

 of creams, oranges, tortoiscshells, and blue 

 Persians. Miss W. Beal has kindly supplied 

 me with a short article on cream and fawn 

 Persians : 



" The cream and fawn Persian was a few 

 years ago looked upon as a ' sport,' and when 

 cream kittens appeared in an orange strain 

 they were considered spoilt oranges, and were 

 either given away, sold for a few shillings, or in 

 many cases destroyed as useless. Now, how- 

 ever, it is very different ; there is a growing 



CHAMPION ROMAI.DK1KK ADMIKAL. 

 (Photo: G. W. Vidals.) 



demand for cats and kittens of this colour, and 

 at the big shows they usually have two classes, 

 i.e. male and female, for them. They were 

 certainly slow in coming into general favour, 

 owing, I think, to the following facts : First, 

 that the specimens formerly exhibited failed 

 very noticeably in head, being very narrow in 

 face arid long in nose ; secondly, that cream 

 females were practically unknown ; and, thirdly, 

 that a show, where they are generally seen, 

 is emphatically the worst place to see cream 

 Persians to advantage, as 

 the journey and being in 

 a town, etc., takes off the 

 spotlessness of their coat 

 and dulls their colour, and 

 the dingy grey of the pens 

 and the yellow of the straw 

 combine to spoil the effect 

 of their colour. 



"The place, without 

 doubt, to see creams to 

 perfection is the country, 

 where against a background 

 of vivid green lawn their 

 pure, soft colouring is in- 

 deed a thing of beauty, 

 and rarely fails to com- 

 mand admiration. The 

 colour is rather difficult 

 to describe, and there are 

 two distinct tones of colour bred, the one 

 which is generally seen and is so far most 

 successful at shows being a cream rather deep 

 in shade, almost buff, with a distinct pink 

 tinge about it, which is very different from the 

 washed-out orange or sandy colour some people 

 imagine it to be. The other tone of cream 

 colour is much paler in shade, but, instead of 

 the pink, it inclines to a lemon tinge, and, 

 though paler, it is, as a rule, more ' flaky ' and 

 uneven than the darker shades, and it is also 

 very apt to fade into white underneath. 



" Nearly all the best-known creams are bred 

 in the first place from orange and blue strains, 

 though creams have appeared as freaks in 

 many colours silvers, tabbies, etc. ; but I be- 

 lieve the present strains sprang from crossing 



