MATING. 103 



all these have Hkewise broken colours of blue, or black, and 

 white. I do not remember having seen any blue cattle, 

 nor any blue guinea-pigs, but no doubt these latter will 

 soon exist. When once the colour or break from the black 

 is acquired, it is then easy to go on multiplying the different 

 shades and varieties of tint and tone, from the dark blue- 

 black to the very light, almost white-gray. In some places 

 in Russia, I am told, blue cats are exceedingly common ; I 

 have seen several shown under the names of Archangel, 

 and others as Chartreuse and Maltese cats. Persians are 

 imported sometimes of this colour, both dark and light 

 Next kin to it is the very light-gray tabby, with almost 

 the same dye, if not quite so light-gray markings. Two such 

 mated have been known to produce very light self grays, 

 and of a lovely hue, a sort of "morning gray"; these 

 matched with black should breed blues. Old male black, 

 and young female white cats, have been known to produce 

 kittens this colour. There is a colony of farm cats at Rodmell, 

 Sussex, from which very fine blues are bred. Light silver 

 tabby males, and white females, are also apt to have one or 

 so in a litter of kittens ; but these generally are not such 

 good blues, the colour being a gray-white, or nearly so, 

 should the hair or coat be parted or divided, the skin 

 being light. The very dark, if from brown-black, are not 

 so blue, but come under the denomination of "smokies," 

 or blue *' smokies," with scarcely a tint of blue in them ; 

 some " smokies " are white, or nearly so, with dark tips to 

 the hair ; these more often occur among Persian than English 

 cats, though I once had a smoky tabby bred from a black 

 and a silver tabby. Importations of some of the former 

 are often extremely light, scarcely showing any markings. 

 These, and such as these, are very valuable where a self blue 

 is desired. If these light colours are females, a smoke- 

 coloured male is an excellent cross, as it already shows a 

 weakened colour. For a very light, tender, delicate, light- 

 gray long-haired self, I should try a white male, and either 

 a rich blue, or a soft gray, extremely lightly-marked tabby. 

 As a rule, all broken whites, such as black and white, 



