ing lvhite sparks from the overbeadcable. Inside the wall it was quiet.Memories chased through his :ldrowsy bra.in almost {orgotten,so {aint were they. Ghosts of memoriesperhaps come back to wander theearth. Tales his mother used tocroon to him 1ong, long ago alittle striped scraP of a creature,nestled in the hay in a Highlandbarn. One tale that alwaYs made herpurrs grow softer. ft was a tale ofwhite moonlight on a hooey-scentedhiltside, a tale of a rvild outlarv who ;ca^me down from the mountains bvnight and stoie-not a chicken or atender nerv-bom 1amb, but the eagerheart of a little puss. An old wivestale, perhaps, but old wives tales are .apt to tell of war and rtork and love.Cheetles yaw'ned and stretched himseif.Time to be moving ; there waswork to be done, There rvas thatmouse to be seen to, the one that gotaway under the surgerY door lastnight. And young TerrY realll'needed more supervision than he rvasgetting. An upstart braggart of acat if ever there was one, with hisflashy good looks and his cocksuremanners supposed to patrol thecookhouse and half the grounds, butfonder, i{ rumour sPoke truth, o{skulking round. the supper table inthe quarters br sleeping over the sitting-roomfire. Terry, the foundling,the st3ay, urchin of the city streets'Then there was Lizzie at the gate'Real1y, the stores were her ProPerbeat. A hard-rvorking, anxious littlecat, ef6cient, too.. One must giveLizz\e her due, but invariablYharassed by family cares and prey tothe conflicting interests of rvork andmotherhood, like so manv $'omen,pressed into industry and prematurelyr,r,orn out by the ceaseless pressure ofthe machine.Yes, time indeed for him td bemoving. The responsibility was onhis shoulders. I{e rose uP, Yawnedand stretched himself again. Still,life held many cornpensations. Tonight'sNight Duty u'as a true friend.The corridor windorv u'ould be openand he could trust to her rememberingthat a drink of warm milk tastesvery good in the bleak hours betweenmidnight and dalvn.Cheetle's great green eYes Piercedthe darkness like the headlights of ahigh-powered car. Time to be moving-thejob must go on.The Second Open Show of theEdinburgh and East of Scotiand CatClub (held in Edinburgh in February)was well attended. Judges were MissKit Wilson, Mrs. Newton and Mrs.Williams and their main awards wereas follow: Best C,at in Show, MissPaton's Amber of Rockviila ; BestAdult Longhair, Mrs. Marsden'sWiddington Warcry; Best LonghairKitten, Miss Paton's Nepeta of Rockvilla; Best Adult Shorthair, MissPaton's Amber of Rockvilla; Best-shorthair Kitten, Mrs. Challoner'sTFIE EDINBURGH SHOW10Whitehaugh Yetta.An interesting {eature rvas the displayby Mr. and Mrs. Lamb of their1ovely Siamese QhamPion MorrisTudor and ChamPion PhcoP AzureZelda. Exhibitors ol Siamese rvereinvited to.- challenge either of theChampions and to have their respec,-tive points compared. About a dozenexhibitors took advantage of the ofierand interesting discussions ensued.A successful dinner was held a-fter theShow, which was admirably organisedby Mr. and Mrs. R. N. Oswald.
Correspond,enee tornerReaders are invited to send contributio'nr to thia featurc "nd "pto joinin the useful exchange of ideas, experienccs and knowledge. Letteo$ould be conciee and deal grcfcrably with items of general interestDEW CLAWSI should like to put a question tot he readers o{ Ou n C,r'rs.One of m1' Black Shorthair queens,\iaximilia Unterkatze, mismatedearlv this year and in due course pro-,lrrcod Iour l,lack kittens. I put threeoI them to sleep and kept one malefor rvhich I hopc to find el home as apet rvhen he is old enough to leavehis rnother. When I clestroyed thenerv-born kittens I mere"v looked attheir sex and left her the bigger anclstronger male kitten to nurse. Later,s'hen I inspected the kitten morethoroughly, I found that it had dervcla\rs on his hind feet which f hadnot seen be{ore- The three dead kittenshacl onlv four clans on theirhind feet.I should like to kiios if otherbreeders have had kittens born rvithderv clarvs and horv frequentlv, or infrequently,this occurs. I have seena number of cats s-ith double thumbs,uhich is another form o{ polydactylism.In rny opinion this abnormalitvoccurs more frequently in catsthan the fifth claiv on the hind feet.I shouid be very glad to learn whatexperience your readers have haduith polydactyle cats ; aiso if suchcats are otherrvise normaiiv intelligentand healthy.lliss E. von f.rlimann,Hampstead, London, N.\\'.3.ACROBATICSA statement reported in a cat prrl,-lication (not Orrn CATS) tb have beenmade by a speaker at a recent socialgathering of cat lovers has intrigueclnle not a little. She u'as referring to1lthe abilitv of the norm:rl cat to landon its feet a{ter a fall and st:rted thatfrom a.s loa a hezght as one loot lronttlte ground (the italics are mine) it u'asLi'le to d" rhi