loo MATING. 



such a thing ; yet hens were common enough, and got from 

 silver and blues. In the nestling before the feathers come, 

 the young of these colours are without down, and are thus 

 thought to be, and doubtless are, a weakly breed ; yet there 

 is no absolute diminution of strength, beyond that of colour, 

 when silver is matched to silver ; but dun with dun, these 

 last go lower in the scale, losing the black tint, and not unfre- 

 quently the colour is yellow ; or, matched with black, breed 

 true blacks. I am, therefore, of opinion that a tortoiseshell 

 male and female would, and should, produce the best of 

 tortoiseshells, both male and female. 



It not unfrequently happens that from a tortoiseshell 

 mother, in the litter of kittens there are male blacks and 

 clear whites, and I have known of one case when a good 

 blue and one where the mixed colours were blue, light red, 

 and light yellow were produced, while the sisters in the 

 litter were of the usual pure tortoiseshell markings. In such 

 cases, generally, the latter only are kept, unless it is the blue, 

 the others being too often destroyed. My own plan would 

 be to breed from such black or white males, and if not suc- 

 cessful in the first attempt, to breed again in the same way 

 with the young obtained with such cross ; and I have but 

 little doubt that, by so doing, the result so long sought after 

 would be achieved. At least, I deem it far more likely to 

 be so than the present plan of using the red tabby as the 

 male, which are easily produced, though very few are of 

 high excellence in richness of ground tints. 



TORTOISESHELL-AND-WHITE. 



If tortoiseshell-and-white are desired, then a black-and- 

 white male may be selected, being bred in the same way as 

 those recommended for the pure tortoiseshell, or one without 

 white if the female has white ; but on no account should an 

 ordinary tabby be tolerated, but a red tabby female of deep 

 colour, or having white, may be held in request, though I 



