WHITE CATS. 63 



as tortoiseshell, red tabby or blues, not the gray-white bred 

 from the black, as these are coarser in the quality of the 

 furs. The eye should be large, round, full, and blue. I 

 noted this peculiarity of white when breeding white Cochins 

 many years ago ; those chickens that were black when 

 hatched were a colder and harder white than those which 

 were hatched buff. This colouring of white should be fully 

 borne in mind when crossing colours in breeding, as the 

 results are widely different from the two varieties. The 

 whole colour yellow-white will not do to match with blue 

 or gray, as it will assuredly give the wrong tinge or colour. 



The eyes should be blue; green is a great defect; 

 bright yellow is allowable, or what in horses is called " wall 

 eyes." Orange gives a heavy appearance ; but yellow will 

 harmonise and look well with a gray-white. 



White cats with blue eyes are hardy. Mr. Timbs, in 

 "Things Not Generally Known," relates that even they are 

 not so likely to be deaf as is supposed, and mentions one 

 of seventeen years old which retained its hearing faculties 

 perfectly. Some specimens I have seen with one yellow 

 eye and one blue ; this is a most singular freak of nature, 

 and to the best of my knowledge is not to be found among 

 any of the other colours. 



It is stated that one of the white horses recently pre- 

 sented by the Shah of Persia to the Emperor of Russia 

 has blue eyes. I can scarcely credit this, but think it 

 must be a true albino, with the gray-pink coloured eyes 

 they generally have, or possibly the blue eye is that peculiar 

 to the albino cat and horse, as I have never seen an albino 

 horse or cat with pink eyes but a kind of opalesque colour, 

 or what is termed "wall eye." No doubt many of my 

 readers have observed the differences in the white of our 

 horses, they mostly being the gray-white, with dark skin ; 

 but the purer white has a pink skin, and is much softer and 

 elegant in appearance. It is the same with our white cats. 



