Body Colour

As light and even as possible, cream being most desirable, but fawn also admissible, without streaks, bars, blotches, or any other body markings.

Points, i.e. mask, ears, legs, feet, and tail, dark and clearly defined, of the shade known as "seal" brown.

Mask

Complete, i.e. connected by tracings with the ears, neither separated by a pale ring (as in kittens) nor blurred and indistinct, the desideratum being to preserve the " marten face," an impression greatly aided by a good mask.

Eyes

Bright and decided blue.

Coat

Glossy and close lying.

Shape

Body rather long, legs proportionately slight.

Head

Rather long and pointed.

The Garden Cattery At Bishopsgate (Photo: Cassett & Company, Limited.)

General Appearance

With points emphasised above, a somewhat curious and striking looking cat, of medium size ; if weighty, not showing bulk, as this would detract from the admired " svelte " appearance. In type, in every particular, the reverse of the ideal short-haired domestic cat, and with properly preserved contrasts of colour, a very handsome animal, often also distinguished by a kink in the tail.

Remarks

While admitting that blues, blacks, whites, tabbies, and other coloured cats may be also cats of Siam, these being common to all parts of the world, this club recognises only as Siamese cats those cats the points of which conform to the above standard, and is, in fact, desirous of encouraging the breeding of those particular cats first made known to British fanciers as the "royal" Siamese.

The points of the "chocolate " Siamese are the same as above, with the exception of body colour.

Value Of Points

Any cat failing to obtain 75 of the above marks shall not be eligible for the club's challenge prizes and medals.

It was shortly after the formation of the Siamese Cat Club that the following letter appeared in Fur and Feather: POINTS OF THE SIAMESE.

The committee of the Siamese Club wish to draw attention to the unfortunate diversity of opinion concerning Siamese cats expressed in articles which appear from time to time in some of the papers which devote a portion of their issue to cat news. One great object of the Siamese Club is to encourage the distinct breeding of the royal cat of Siam and also of the chocolate cat of Siam - both beautiful in their own way, but recognised as distinct breeds. The Siamese Club is young, and not infallible ; but, containing as it does most of the principal breeders and exhibitors, its committee would like to record their opinion on some few points which have appeared in the Press, in order to avoid a silence which might be construed as consent. With regard to colour, they cannot agree that a royal can be too light in body colour, nor can they endorse " we like a rich cream body, chocolate saddle, and the points glossy black, shading away to chocolate." Another paper advises the mating of royal Siamese with the chocolate variety. It is true that the young kittens are very pretty, but after six months old quickly become dark and blurred. The great beauty of royal Siamese is the contrast between the sharply defined, deepest brown markings and a body of as light a cream as possible.

A third paper gives the information that an exhibitor known to it has bred prize - winning Siamese from a cross between a white cat with blue eyes and a Siamese queen. It also mentions another case where such crossing has produced good Siamese kittens, and thinks "that many other people have, with more or less success, followed the same tactics. The above experiment has often been tried, purposely and accidentally, but no case is known to the writers where the result has been anything like Siamese, the kittens always favouring the English parent. All Siamese are born white, and therefore if the children of one white parent died quite young such a mistake might be natural. It certainly would be very unfair to sell such kittens, as their progeny would inherit, and might pass on, an English parentage, not even necessarily white. A white is, or may be, merely an albino variety. - (Signed). A. Forestier Walker, Jean A. Spencer, May Robinson, L. Parker-Brough, S. E. Backhouse, Constance Carew Cox.

Miss Forestier Walker and Mrs. Vyvyan were amongst the first to introduce Siamese cats into England, and they have always owned a direct descendant from the first and famous "Tiam-o-Shian," and many are the prize-winners they have reared and shown from this celebrated strain. Miss Forestier-Walker has frequently acted as judge of Siamese, and took a very active part in the formation of the specialist club for this breed. She has kindly furnished me with the following notes, and given me some photographs of Mrs. Vyvyan's cats: " Siamese cats were first introduced into England about twenty-five years ago, but were not often seen until a few years later. Among the earliest were those belonging to Sir Robert Herbert, Lady Dorothy Nevill, the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, Mrs. Cun-liffe Lee, Mrs. Vyvyan, and myself. Since then they have become fairly common.

Mrs. Roberts Locke, With "Calif," " Siam," And " Bangkok." (Photo: S. S. Finley, Chicago.)

"There are two distinct varieties in the present day. (1) The royal cat of Siam, cream-coloured in body, with sharply defined seal-brown markings on head, ears, legs, feet, and tail ; eyes a decided blue. The cats generally become darker after two years old, but where great care has been taken in breeding the true royal cats keep the light colour longer. In any case the body colouring should be even, not blotched or striped. The larger, lighter-coloured cats have china or ultramarine blue eyes ; the more slender, darker cats have deeper-coloured eyes. (2) The chocolate cats are deep brown in colour, showing hardly any markings, and have blue eyes.