128 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



as time goes on we shall find it will be the rule 

 and not the exception to see these perfect 

 eyes amongst the blues of the future. It must, 

 however, be borne in mind that in the point 

 of eyes cats throw back, and two parents with 

 good orange eyes may yet produce one or 

 more kittens with pale eyes of yellow or green- 

 ish hue. Although I have dilated at length 

 on the superiority of the orange eye in blues, 

 I do not wish it to be thought that a weedy, 



white (which is no colour), and this is the more 

 curious because black mated with white gener- 

 ally produces either one colour or the other, 

 or breaks black and white or white and black ; 

 the blue being, as it were, a weakened black 

 or a withdrawal by white of some, if not all, of 

 the brown or red, varying in tint according to 

 the colour of the black from which it was bred, 

 dark grey, or from weakness in the stamina 

 of the litter. When once the colour or break 

 from the black is acquired, it is then 

 easyjto go on multiplying the different 

 shades and varieties of tint and tone, 

 from the dark blue-black to the very 

 light, almost white grey. If whole- 



THK ARTIST. 



(Photo : Mrs. S. F. Clarke.) 



boneless cat, even with eyes of deepest hue, 

 would find favour in my sight ; for in blues, 

 as in all breeds of Persians, what we ought to 

 seek after most earnestly are good massive 

 limbs, plenty of bone, and broad skulls. There 

 are too many Persian cats of hare-like propor- 

 tions, and we really want some of the type of 

 a good old English tabby introduced into the 

 more aristocratic long-haired breeds. 



It will be interesting to up-to-date breeders 

 of blues to hear what the veteran cat lover and 

 fancier Harrison Weir had to say about them 

 fifteen years ago. In his well-known bcok, 

 " Our Cats," he thus alludes to the breed : 



" Blue in cats is one of the most extra- 

 ordinary colours of any, for the reason that it 

 is a mixture of black (which is no colour) and 



coloured blues are in request, then parti- 

 colours, such as white and black, or black and 

 white, are best excluded." 



Many of our leading cat fanciers "go in" 

 exclusively for blues, and keep faithful to 

 this one breed alone. I give a list of these, 

 and trust I may be pardoned if I have left 

 out the name of any enthusiastic breeder and 

 lover of blues and blues alone : Mrs. Hill, 

 Mrs. Wells, Mrs. P. Hardy, Mrs. H. Ransome, 

 Mrs. Bennet, Mrs. Mocatta, Mrs. S. F. Clarke 

 (Louth), Mrs. Cartwright, Mrs. Gregory (Lin- 

 coln), Mrs. H. B. Thompson, Mrs. O'Brien 

 Clarke, Miss Jay, Miss Bennet, Miss Messer, 

 Miss Patterson, Miss Goddard, Rev. P. L. 

 Cosway, Mrs. Swanson, Mrs. Curwen, Mrs. 

 Duffin, Mrs. W. M. Hunt, Mrs. Slingsby, Mrs. 



