PET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. 



93 



marked, or what colours, therefore fanciers keep breed- 

 ing away in a haphazard fashion in the hope that some- 

 thing startling may turn up. We are encouraging this 

 style of breeding by not fixing standards." 



TORTOISESHELLS AND TORTOISESHELL AND WHITES. 



Are about as few and far between as are big diamonds 

 in the possession of an East London seamstress. It is 

 said that a real well-broken tortoiseshell has not yet 

 been exhibited; and only one or two tortoiseshell and 

 whites, so that the only thing to be said about this 

 variety is there is a good field open to the mouse 

 breeder to obtain the rare in his fancy. We cannot 

 tell him how to do it. 



SILVERS GREYS. 



These are another puzzling variety to the mouse 

 breeder. We mean on the score of production. It is 

 well, however, to tell them that a real and genuine silver 

 grey is not a black mouse with white tipped hairs inter- 

 mixed. Silver grey never yet was of a black cast of 

 colour, but of a blue tone. The undercolour should be 

 blue black, not black, and the ticking and silvering, i.e., 

 the dark and light tips intermixed, should leave a blue 

 tone of colour to catch the eye of the observer. They 

 will never be got the correct shade by merely crossing 

 whites with blacks. A silver grey rabbit, when it first 

 runs about is not a jet black, but if the fur is well 

 examined, it will be found to be blue black. Such will 

 have to be the case with a silver grey mouse, if bred to 

 perfection. It is of no use breeders of mice labouring 

 under the delusion that the ground colour of the silver 

 grey is black. The most likely way to breed a silver 

 grey mouse is, we think to persist in crossing a grey 

 agouti buck to a light coloured blue doe, especially if 

 the doe shows any inclination to silver hairs. We 

 should mate the densest coloured blue buck to a really 

 good black-eyed silver doe, and save any blue does from 

 the progeny that might show silvering. To these mate 

 the grey agouti buck. We do this to stamp in the blue. 



