SfLl'KR TABBY PERSIA A 'S. 



173 



whole litters of well-marked kittens we shall 

 be grievously disappointed. Personally, we 

 have had the best results from pairing two 

 marked cats slightly related and of good silver 

 pedigrees. A smoke of silver origin is another 

 good cross, but the sire should always be a 

 tabby. The blacker the kittens are at birth 

 the better. There is no sign of light under- 

 coat, but generally narrow pencillings of 

 silver are to be seen, and face and paws are 

 fairly light. The kittens which at birth show 

 contrast of dark and light rarely turn out good 

 tabbies. The markings, as a rule, become too 

 faint. At a month old the light markings 

 should widen and develop, and at three months 

 old the full beauty will be seen. Before the 

 change to cat coat, many of the kittens be- 

 come more shaded than marked, and up to 

 the sixth or eighth month there is always a 

 possibility of their proving disappointing. If, 

 however, after this age the markings return, 

 harden, and develop, they will endure for 

 ever, except during periods of moulting. In 

 extreme old age both the purity of colouring 

 and distinctness of markings are lost. Ex- 

 posure to the sun considerably injures the 

 colour of the silver tabby cats, giving 

 them a brown tinge. We believe exhibitors 

 of magpies never allow their birds to enjoy 

 the rays of the sun for a similar reason, 

 but it is a question whether it is not 

 wiser to study the beneficial effects of a 

 sun-bath on the health of our cats rather than 

 the slight detriment to their coats caused 

 by its enjoyment. I have said nothing about 

 size and shape. The silver tabby should be 

 a large cat, with good bones, and very heavily 

 coated. The old-fashioned cats were very 

 long, low on the legs, and a trifle narrow in 

 head. Nowadays we have remedied this 

 defect, and the modern cats are decidedly 

 more cobby than their progenitors. The 

 ears should be set wide apart, and be small 

 and not too sharply pointed. If only fanciers 

 will now devote themselves to the production 

 of such cats as I have tried to describe, we 

 shall soon see the silver tabby classes at our 

 shows filled with typical animals, instead of, as 



is too often the case, with spoilt silvers, too 

 heavily marked to be called chinchillas, too un- 

 evenly or lightly marked to be correct tabbies." 



I have mentioned Miss Cope as a breeder 

 of silver tabbies. Her remarks on her favour- 

 ite breed are as follows : 



" There is no doubt that until quite re- 

 cently interest in this fascinating breed had, 

 to a great extent, died out, owing to the 

 craze for chinchilla breeding. But I hope 

 their day-is-coming again. There is a marked 

 improvement already shown in the silver 

 tabby classes at the best shows. 



" Mr. St. George Mivart, in his celebrated 

 book, asks, ' What is a cat ? ' But even so 

 simple a question as that appears from his 

 statement to be more easily asked than 

 answered. The same may be said of the 

 question, ' What is a silver tabby ? ' I will 

 endeavour to answer the question by giving 

 my own idea of what may be considered to 

 be a perfect type of a silver tabby. The 



A PAIR OF SILVER TABBIES. 



(Photo: E. Landor, Baling.) 



