Chapter M: Is a Mandarin-Beaver

Even in plain clothes should score two games if seen in England. There is no ruling as to the points to be scored if observed in this country in full plumage.

This specimen is often wrongly catalogued in books of reference as a Mandarin-King-Beaver. Royalty or Kinghood is impossible for a species which supports a very notable gap between its central adornment and the maxillary-fringes.

The specimen mounted is, so to say, traditional, that is, it is a transcript of an early-nineteenth century Chinese brush-drawing on silk in Chinese ink representing a hero, or as we should say, a Beaver.

N.

IS A NANNY-BEAVER.

Really good specimens are very rare. They are reported to flourish in the Eastern farming states of the United States of America, but British research is lamentably behindhand, and our exact knowledge is quite fragmentary.

In any case there is one simple rule for the guidance of the _amateur_; no Nanny-Beaver can be claimed or scored of which the adornment does not depend a full two inches from the under-surface of the chin.

O.

IS AN ORIENTAL-BEAVER.

These strangely beautiful specimens are rarely seen in this cold country.

Those who have had the privilege of observing closely a gaggle of Orientals in indigenous plumage (the species is pathetically subject to local changes) will, assuredly, ever prize the recollection.

The most noteworthy feature, apart from the extraordinarily fine quality of coat (glossiness, sheen, etc.), is the exotic parting which lends a wistful charm to the otherwise opulent glories of these occasional visitors.

Score always two games (in England); set, if the specimen is in indigenous plumage.

P.

IS A PARTI-COLOUR-BEAVER.

These specimens are curiously attractive and are more often scored than one would think. Artists, above all others, wax well-nigh lyrical over the beauties of a well-defined Parti-Colour, one, that is, in which there is almost no shading, the black being black and the white, white. The same colouration is observed in the pelt of the Colobus monkey and justly admired.

It is not possible to distinguish between natural and artificial Parti-Colours, unless one should happen to be a relative of the specimen. All Parti-Colours are, therefore, scored. (Two points.)

Q.

IS A QUEEN-BEAVER.

It has been objected that it is not gallant to score these undoubted rarities. Theoretically it is, certainly, not pretty conduct, but, on the other hand, all is fair in love and war, and ... has any man ever refused to shoot a rhinoceros on the plea that it was a female? (I merely ask ... someone may have done so. There may even be a close time for doe-rhinoes.) Be that as it may, the scoring of Queens is an affair of lineage. Regard this eighteenth century distich:--

“Here is a Pink-Queen, very rare,
Remember to count the sixteenth hair.”[1]

Queens are always scored extravagantly. Usually game; extra-rarities two games, and so on. The Pink-Queen is, without doubt, the rarest of her kind; conversely, when found, she is usually a superb specimen, in rich coat. The question of Queens is dealt with broadly in the terminal essay.

[Footnote 1: Queens cannot be scored unless they have _more_ than fifteen hairs.]

R.

IS A RED-KING-BEAVER.

I feel a very natural emotion on commenting on the sublime specimen of the Red-King, the ultimate hope of every keen collector, which is portrayed on the opposite page. Observed outside “The Goose and Gridiron,” in Slogsby-under-Hill, this noble creature deprived both my companion (an ex-local champion) and myself of speech for three minutes.

Had he been carrying a ladder (the _ne-plus-ultra_ of Beaverhood) we had never recovered from the glory of the revelation.

Red-Kings score “Game, set, match.” A Red-King on a green bicycle, carrying a lanthorn (or lantern), scores do. do. “Local Championship.” A Red-King on a green bicycle carrying a ladder (poor old Pelion!) has never, alas! been reported up to the present.

There are dreams of scoring a Red-King, complete with fitments, on a High Bicycle ... all things are possible, even a ravishment such as that.

S.

IS A SANTA-BEAVER.

These are usually scored, though your conscientious expert demurs at so doing, as it has been held--and the view is well supported by players of repute--that they are strictly-speaking Double-Faults, the adornment being temporary.

The genuine Santa-King-Beaver, complete with reindeer, sleigh and business with chimney, has never, I believe, been scored.

Claim a game if you, a stranger adult, score one.

T.

IS A TUFTED-KING-BEAVER.

It may, perhaps, be thought that this is a fanciful, a pernickety differentiation--such are to be deplored--but there is a very distinct species of Beaver--King or ordinary--having these marked characteristics, and the best players invariably claim a Tufted, and two points, if they have the luck to espy a specimen such as that depicted.

The points to look for are the three patches of foliage in centre forehead and over either ear. The chin-growth partakes of the nature of these, but it is the _tufted temple_ which makes your rarity.

In the last century this sub-branch of the genus Longi-Florum was fairly common; sub-title, Adolphus.

U.

IS AN URSINE-BEAVER.

The specimen mounted is, I believe, unique. A noted scientist in private life, in public life an exquisite Ursine--or (as some say) Leonine--there are no _data_ extant to assist us in forming an opinion as to why he did it.

It is scarcely likely that this phenomenon will flower again for centuries. Should a pale reflection be observed, remember that the salient points are: (a.) great width across the cheek-bones, (b.) uniformity of foliage.

The miracle mounted opposite had tendrils, delicate, wonderful, almost on the lower edge of the eye-lids.

The osseous formation of the nasal promonotory should be carefully studied by earnest _amateurs_.