288 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



Others of note were ' James II.,' the property 

 of Mrs. Collingwood ; ' Sedgemere Silver King,' 

 owned by, Mr. Sam Woodiwiss. Prominent in 

 the female classes were the noted queen, 

 ' Champion Shelly,' owned by Mr. H. W. 

 Bullock, shown some years ago ; by that 

 noted sire, ' King of the Fancy,' owned by 

 Mr, Sugden. It is notable he sired both 

 ' Champion Jimmy ' and ' Champion Shelly.' 

 'Silver Queen,' winner of many firsts and 

 specials, the property of the Hon. Mrs. McLaren 

 Morrison ; ' Sedgemere Silver Queen.' owned 

 by Mr. Sam Woodi- 

 wiss; 'Silver Queen,' 

 the property of Mr. 

 Harold Blackett ; 

 and that grand fe- 

 male, ' Sweet Phillis,' 

 the property of Mrs. 

 Herring. 



" Very few good 

 brown tabbies are 

 benched,, and breed- 

 ers, I am afraid, get 

 very disheartened at 

 the : result . of their 

 efforts. I despair to 

 think of the litters I 

 have seen, and not 

 a good one amongst 

 them. The rich 

 bro\vn sable colour 

 is . very seldom met 

 with, and now that the world-renowned cham- 

 pion of champions, ' Xenophon,' is no more, 

 we have only ' Flying Fox ' and ' King of Lee ' 

 anything like the type you expect in this hand- 

 some breed. Of ' Champion Xenophon ' I am 

 afraid we can truly say, ' We shall ne'er look on 

 his like again.' His wonderful colour, mark- 

 ings, and size approached the ideal short-haired 

 cat. I believe he was either bred by Mr. 

 Heslop, or came under his keen eye, and, like 

 a good many others, was brought down south 

 by that fancier to make a name. 



"He was claimed by Mr. Sam Woodiwiss, 

 who showed him for some years, and he 

 secured for his owner numerous champion- 



A BLACK-AND-WHITE BKITISHKR. 

 (Photo: A. IVarschcan'ski, St. Leonards-on-Sea.) 



ships, first prizes, and specials, afterwards 

 changing hands and becoming the property of 

 Lady Decies. still following up his winning 

 career after an unbroken record of ' second to 

 none.' I think I am correct in saying this 

 cat has won more money and specials than 

 any short-haired cat ever exhibited. 



" Red tabbies, again, are one of the difficult 



varieties to obtain. The dense, dark red tabby 



markings against the light red ground is only 



the result of judicious mating and breeding. 



" Among the many notable males, ' Bal- 



lochmyle Perfection,' 

 the property of Lady 

 Alexander, winner of 

 some 100 first prizes, 

 championships, and 

 specials, the sire of 

 ' Champion Balloch- 

 myle Goldfinder' and 

 ' Ballochmyle No 

 Fool ' (the mother of 

 'Ballochmyle Red 

 Prince '), stands out 

 very p r o m i n e n t ly. 

 ' Champion Perfec- 

 tion,' despite his ten 

 years, has still the 

 grand dense mark- 

 ings and colour as of 

 old. In ' Ballochmyle 

 Perfection' we have 

 a chip of the old 

 block. Then a later red tabby, Mrs. Colling- 

 wood's 'Clem,' is a good-coloured red. Mr. 

 Kuhnel, of Bradford, for many years held 

 his own in this handsome breed in fact, most 

 of the present-day winners can be traced, from 

 that fancier's cattery. 



" Blues (self-coloured). There seems to 

 be a great difference of opinion as to the 

 shape and make of head of these cats. Some 

 judges look for a round, full head of the 

 English-bred cat; others, the long head of 

 the Eastern variety. I think that difference 

 arises to a great extent according to where 

 these cats originally came from. I have 

 heard the opinions of some who give Arch- 



