THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



As there is such a dearth of good black cats 

 in England, it is a pity some enterprising 

 breeder does not try to import a really splendid 

 specimen, which might bring luck to himself 

 and the fancy. 



In looking back to the old catalogues of 

 Crystal Palace shows, I find the same scarcity 

 of blacks exhibited as at the present day. In 

 1886 the black male class is marked " no 

 entry," and in 1889 Mrs. H. Warner (now the 

 Hon. Mrs. McLaren Morrison) makes the sole 

 and only entry of " Imp " in the black class. 

 It was in the following year, however, that 

 this same well-known lady fancier exhibited 

 " Satan," a black that was never beaten whilst 

 it lived. It was the most remarkable of 

 unapproachable excellence I can remember 

 a veritable triton among minnows. 



In many of the accounts of our largest 

 shows I remark such paragraphs as these : 

 " Good blacks with orange eyes were con- 

 spicuous by their absence." Or again: "The 

 black classes, as usual, were poorly filled." It 

 is, therefore, high time that this beautiful 

 breed should receive more attention at the 

 hands of fanciers, and that not only beginners 

 but those who are well known in the cat world 

 should take up blacks, and, as the expression 

 goes, " run them for all they are worth." At 

 present Dr. Roper's and Mr. R. Little's black 

 Persians have it all their own way. Mrs. 

 Lenty Collins frequently has a look in with 

 her wonderful big-eyed " Forest Beauty," and 

 Mrs. Crowther, in the North, is faithful to this 

 her favourite breed of cats ; but we want 

 some more dusky beauties to swell the ranks 

 of black Persians. 



As everyone knows, a vast deal of super- 

 stition is connected with a black cat. This is 

 what Harrison Weir has to say on the subject : 

 " It is often said, 'What's in a name ? ' The 

 object, whatever it is, by any other would 

 be the same ; and yet there is much in a 

 name. But this is not the question at issue, 

 which is that of colour. Why should a black 

 cat be thought so widely different from all 

 others by the foolish, unthinking, and ignorant ? 

 Why, simply on account of its colour being 



black, should it have ascribed to it a numberless 

 variety of bad omens, besides having certain 

 necromantic power ? In Germany, for in- 

 stance, black cats are kept away from children 

 as omens of evil ; and if a black cat appealed 

 in the room of one lying ill, it was said to 

 portend death. To meet a black cat in the 

 twilight was held unlucky. In the ' good old 

 times ' a black cat was generally the only 

 colour that was favoured by men reported to 

 be wizards, and black cats were said to be 

 the constant companions of witches ; and in 

 such horror and detestation were they then 

 held that when the unfortunate creatures 

 were ill-treated, drowned, or even burned, 

 very frequently, we are told, their cats suffered 

 martyrdom at the same time. It is possible 

 that one of the reasons for such wild, savage 

 superstition may have arisen from the fact of 

 the larger amount of electricity to be found 

 by friction in the coat of the black cat than of 

 any other ; experiments prove there is but 

 very little either in that of the white or the 

 red tabby cat. Be this as it may, still the fact 

 remains that, for some reason or other, the 

 black cat is held by the prejudiced ignorant 

 as an animal most foul and detestable, and 

 wonderful stories are related of their actions 

 in the dead of the night during thunderstorms. 

 Yet, as far as I can discover, there appears 

 little difference either of temper or habit in 

 the black cat distinct from that of any other 

 colour, though it is maintained by many 

 even to this day that black cats are far more 

 vicious and spiteful, and of higher courage, 

 and this last I admit. Still, when a black cat 

 , is enraged and its coat and tail are well ' set 

 up,' its form distended, its round, bright, 

 orange eye all aglow with anger, it certainly 

 presents to even the most impartial observer, 

 to say the least of it, a most ' uncanny ' 

 appearance. But, for all this, their admirers 

 are by no means few ; and, to my thinking, a 

 jet-black cat, fine and glossy in fur and elegantly 

 formed, certainly has its attractions." 



But although black cats are supposed to be 

 harbingers of evil under some conditions, yet 

 in others they are credited with miraculous 



