SILVER OR CHINCHILLA PERSIANS. 



161 



is no more, for the lighter the kitten the more 

 delicate. ' Whom the gods love, die young.' 

 Or, again, if the cherished one lives over its 

 baby troubles, and starts on the change from 

 its first, or kitten coat, to the second coat, too 

 often do the markings appear, the shadings 

 get darker, or fine black hairs are seen amongst 

 the pale grey. Some of the best chinchilla 

 kittens have been born quite dark, and with 



full coat (the fur being from three to seven 

 inches long on the tail sometimes as much 

 as nine inches) the tiny neckings are lost in 

 wavy, tossing, billowy coat. But let the 

 coat become damp, however slightly, it will 

 be seen that the dark edges are clearly in 

 evidence. 



" As, however, breeders could not always 

 produce the pale shade of silver, the litters, 



" JUI'ITER DUVALS." 



OWNED AND BRED BY Miss S. MEESON. 



(Photo : F. Parsons, Smithend-on-Sea.) 



tiny stripes all over. At a month or six weeks 

 these marks have disappeared, and later the 

 coat has become an even silver. 



' The breeder must not even then build 

 high hopes. Again change may occur. There 

 is no cat which varies so much ; it is quite 

 chameleon-like in this respect. 



" A few years ago the Cat Club adopted 

 the name of ' self silver ' as applied to the 

 chinchilla another misnomer, as a self silver 

 should have no tippings or shadings, and the 

 silver cat has not been bred that had fur 

 the same shade throughout from roots to tips. 



'The slight dark edging to the fur con- 

 stitutes to most people the charm in these 

 silvers. Sometimes it is almost imperceptible 

 to the casual observer ; or when the cat is in 

 11 



even with the most careful mating, being 

 generally assorted in good, bad, and in- 

 different so far as colour was concerned, 

 many fine cats dark silvers had no place 

 assigned to them. 



" It was then suggested that a class should 

 be given at the shows to be called ' shaded 

 silver,' the points according to the Silver 

 Society being as follows : 



" ' Shaded silvers should be defined as pale, 

 clear silver, shaded on face, legs, and back, 

 but having as few tabby markings as possible/ 



" The dark or shaded silvers, it was under- 

 stood, should have pale, clear undercoats ; 

 but instead of the fleckings of the self silver 

 (so called), the dark edges ran a considerable 

 way into the fur. The shaded silver is a 



