SILVER TABBY PERSIANS. 



167 



anything to do with a cat that had green eyes, 

 and now that so much is being done to improve 

 the feline race, why should we try to think 

 the green eye right and even desirable ? " 

 Another authority says : " The fiat has gone 

 forth that silver tabbies are to have green 

 eyes. Happily there still remains room for 

 a difference of opinion on the subject, for the 

 oldest and most perfect breeds of silver tabbies 

 have always been distinguished by their deep 

 hazel eyes." 



This vexed question of eyes, certainly 

 outside the " self " classes, ought not to be 

 one of such vast importance. As Louis Wain 

 aptly writes when complaining of this undue 

 proportion of points, " Everyone, judges and 

 exhibitors alike, are bitten by the craze for 

 the ' correct coloured eyes.' ' It is a fault 



tabbies, of long- or short-haired cats. In 

 judging a class of tabbies, first and foremost 

 in the judge's estimation must rank the mark- 

 ings, and in Persian tabbies coat must next 

 be taken into consideration. I have always 

 thought that judging long-haired tabby cats 

 in a ring class would be specially welcomed 

 both by judges and exhibitors, for it is when 

 a good cat of this breed runs or walks the 

 beauty of his markings can be seen and 

 admired^ -Then the dark spine lines will 

 show up to advantage, the side markings 

 will stand out, and the bars on the legs and 

 the rings round the neck may be clearly dis- 

 cerned. I think it is not to be wondered at 

 that fanciers who have bred tabby cats are 

 not easily satisfied as regards selfs and silvers. 

 A friend of mine declared, " I always miss the 

 stripes which give a tabby cat such a sweetly 

 expressive countenance." Yet in spite of the 

 beauty of the silver tabby, there are very few 

 fanciers of this variety, and to those wishing 

 to take up Persians I could not recommend a 

 more interesting field for speculative breeding. 



SILVER TABBY KITTENS OWNED BY H.H. THE PRINCESS VICTORIA OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 



(Photo : E. Landor, Baling.) 



that judges are prone to commit, and truly The number of good show specimens can be 



one point ought not to be allowed to outweigh counted on the fingers of one hand. Silver 



others, and it is just this balancing of merits Tabby classes at our shows are full of nonde- 



with a mingling of common sense that makes script cats with shaded silver bodies and 



the good all-round judge, whether of self or markings only on legs and head. 



