76 PET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. 



patches, but brindling proper. Here again shape adds 

 to the value of the cavy, and the colours must be 

 lustrous and the coat shorthand springy. 



TORTOISESHELL AND WHITES. 



Mr. W. W. Ward (Finsbury Park), the owner and 

 breeder of Champion ** Dolly," writes thus on this 

 beautiful variety: " How to breed tortoiseshell and 

 whites : Always select the best shaped pigs. Those with 

 good heavy heads, broad shoulders, Roman nose, 

 sound ears not flesh coloured, nice short coats, as 

 small in patches as you can get them, and as free from 

 brindling or intermixing of colours as possible. Always 

 avoid breeding from banded specimens, as once you 

 get the band in your stock it requires a great deal ol 

 breeding out. I would rather breed from tortoise and 

 white cavies that show brindling than from banded 

 specimens. A banded pig is one on which one colour 

 goes in a band right round the body. One of the most 

 important points to remember in connection with this 

 variety is purity of colours. There should be nice rich 

 raven black, good deep red, and pure glossy white 

 patches, which should be as small and clean cut as 

 possible, as numerous as you can get them, and as well 

 placed in variation. Further, a first-class specimen 

 should be as well patched underneath as on top." It is 

 unnecessary to add anything to the above, from a 

 breeder of many years of successful experience. 



TORTOISESHELLS. 



A somewhat similar piece of advice as to shape and 

 coat texture applies to tortoiseshells as to the tortoise- 

 shell and whites. It must be remembered, however, 

 that a tortoiseshell is not a brindle. A tortoiseshell pig 

 should be very rich in the colour sub-sections, but 

 should not be a brindled pig, i.e., the different colours 

 should be separate and distinct. There should be an 

 utter absence of white. 



BRINDLES. 



Unlike the tortoiseshell, and the exact reverse, in 

 the case of colour setting, a good brindle wants to be 



