BREEDING AND EXHIBITING 67 



female ought to make a point of mating her with a silver 

 Tabby male, avoiding Chinchillas and shaded Silvers, as 

 such a cross weakens the markings, and kittens of the 

 <k wrong class " and " no class " descriptions are the result. 

 There is certainly an opening for breeders of silver Tabbies. 



It is a great mistake to breed Smokes with Blues, as in this 

 case you lose the lovely white undercoat which is the chief 

 glory of this handsome breed. Like to like should be the 

 order of the day as regards Smokes. 



Regarding the mating of Blues I would advise you to 

 study soundness of colour in the first place, then shape 

 of head. I like a massive frame in a male cat, with plenty 

 of breadth and bone. 



It is a great mistake to allow your male cat to mate until 

 he is a year old. If he is used at stud earlier he will pro- 

 bably fail you later on. 



In announcing the despatch of a queen on a visit to a 

 stud cat be careful to write very distinctly. A hamper 

 containing a lady visitor recently reached me, and I discovered 

 a letter enclosed, but I could only make a vague guess at 

 the signature, and the rather lengthy address was still more 

 unintelligible. 



Some cat fanciers imagine that the number of kittens in a 

 litter depends on the length of time the queen remains with 

 the stud. This is an erroneous idea. Nor do I believe in 

 colour feeding in regard to cats and their offspring. 



Some queens are of such a timid nature that the very 

 fact of sending them by rail to a strange place will com- 

 pletely upset them, and the visit will have no satisfactory 

 results. In such cases it may be best to try and come to 

 some arrangement with the owner of the stud, and perhaps 

 for the consideration of a kitten in addition to the fee, the 

 male cat may be lent for a few days. 



I think I am right in stating that as regards registering 



