126 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



males and 17 females. At Cruft's Show in 

 the year 1894 a grand blue, called " \Voo- 

 loomooloo," was exhibited by Mrs. W. R. 

 Hawkins, and this cat became one of the most 

 famous of stud cats. Many of the finest blues 

 of to-day are descended from this noted sire. 

 Mrs. H. B. Thompson's " Don Juan " was 

 for many years greatly in request as a stud 

 cat, and many beautiful blues claim him as 

 their ancestor. 



A little later " Moko " became famous as 

 the sire of a sensational kitten exhibited by 

 Mr. C. W. Witt at the Westminster Show of 

 1900. " Moko " was sold at a high figure to 

 Mrs. Barnett, and is now in the possession of 

 Mrs. Singleton, of Yeovil. Mr. A. A. Clarke 

 was considered the best judge of this variety, 

 and at the Palace and Brighton he did much 

 to encourage the breed by offering handsome 

 special prizes in the blue classes. 



It is true that the prize-winning cats of 

 ten and fifteen years ago would have had but 

 a poor chance in the present-day competi- 

 tions, chiefly for the reason that cats of the 

 past could look at a judge with bright green 

 eyes and yet be awarded the highest 

 honours. Nous avons changJ tout cela, and 

 now a blue cat without the much-to-be-desired 

 orange eyes fetches but a small price, and is 

 at a great disadvantage in the show-pen. 

 An up-to-date judge may, however, be led 

 into giving too great a prominence to this 

 point and thus sacrifice soundness of colour, 

 shape, and form. Then, again, I remember 

 when a white spot on the throat of a blue 

 Persian was not considered a serious defect ; 

 now a few straggling white hairs will cause 

 anguish to the owner, and a judge will promptly 

 put down the specimen for this blemish. 



Blue cats with white spots used to be rele- 

 gated to the " any other colour " class ; but 

 recently both the National Cat Club and 

 the Cat Club have wisely decided that such 

 cats should be judged in their own classes. 

 However, I think that owners of these speci- 

 mens would do well to keep them away from 

 the show bench, where the competition in 

 blues is now too keen to give any chance for 



defective cats to have a look in. I may men- 

 tion that the nose of a blue Persian is a few 

 shades darker than its fur, and the toe-pads 

 yet a little darker. 



As will be seen from the standard of points 

 for blues, which will be found later on in 

 this chapter, the highest marks are given for 

 soundness of colour. There is a tendency to 

 breed very light blues, and popular fancy 

 favours this particular type. I am inclined, 

 however, to prefer a good sound medium blue 

 as being the best and safest for breeding 

 purposes. The lovely pale blues are beautiful 

 to look at, but are seldom absolutely sound in 

 colour. Blues, whether dark or light, should 

 be the same tint throughout, so that when the 

 coat is blown apart the colour at the roots 

 is the same as at the tips. A white under- 

 coat is a serious blemish, and this often 

 appears when silver blood may be traced 

 in the ancestry of a blue cat. We have 

 quite dropped the term of self-blue, and yet 

 this well expresses the uniformity of colour 

 which is so desirable. As tiny kittens blues 

 frequently exhibit tabby markings ; but fan- 

 ciers need not worry over these apparent 

 defects, for as the coat grows the bars and 

 stripes are no longer visible. 



It also sometimes happens that a kitten 

 exhibits quite a light ruff, but this is generally 

 shed with the second coat, and eventually 

 disappears. There are some cats erroneously 

 called blues by novices in the fancy, but which 

 in reality are blue smokes. These have pro- 

 bably been bred from blues and smokes, and 

 thus the type of each is seriously damaged. 

 If it is desired to breed sound-coloured blues, 

 then it is undesirable to cross them with any 

 other colour save and except blacks. I have 

 found good results from mating blues and 

 blacks, more especially with a view to obtain- 

 ing the deep amber eyes of the black Persians, 

 which, for some reason or other, are generally 

 larger, rounder, and deeper in colour than 

 what we can produce in blues. Certainly all 

 broken breeds and tabbies should be avoided 

 when mating blues. I have heard of white 

 cats being bred with blues to get a pale tint 



