176 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



the wear and tear of show life. My own cats 

 live in wooden houses, raised at least one 

 foot from the ground, the size at least seven 

 and a half feet by five and a half feet. Each 

 house is fitted with an inner wire door, as 

 well as the outer wooden one. Along the 

 entire length of the upper part of one side is 

 a wire netting window, with a broad shelf 

 fitted beneath. This opening has also a 

 sliding shutter fitted with glass panels. I 

 am thus able to give ventilation at will, or 

 fasten them up securely in bad weather. In 

 one corner of the house is a cosy sleeping 

 box : in another corner an equally cosy 

 chair. All cats love a chair. Cats kept out- 

 side, when they are admitted to the house, 

 invariably find out the most comfortable 

 corner of the most comfortable chair. In 

 such a house as I have described, kittens can 

 be successfully reared ; there is ample room 

 for them to scamper round should a wet 

 day keep them in. Unless it is absolutely 

 raining all my cats have the run of a large 

 garden the whole day, and are only shut up 

 at night. I never coddle my kittens, but 

 try to bring them up as naturally as possible. 

 " I am sometimes asked how it is my 

 kittens attain such good proportions. The 

 secret, if secret there be. lies in this I never 

 allow my mother cats to nurse more than 

 two kittens after the first week. If a foster 

 cannot be found, I select the two I consider 

 the most promising, and the lethal chamber 

 claims the rest. Some may consider this 

 foolish. I can only say I would far rather 

 rear two thoroughly healthy kittens than 

 five or six little puny things that will require 

 weeks of care and attention, and then fail 

 to reach the end in view. Baby silver tabbies, 

 I must admit, are not altogether things of 

 1 beauty and of joy. More often than not they 

 are dark and uninteresting. The time to 

 decide which is the best marked kitten is 

 while the coat is comparatively short. When 

 compelled to make a selection, I usually give 

 the preference to the darker kittens. Ex- 

 perience has taught me that the lighter kittens, 

 so attractive in themselves, even at that 



early stage, and whose colouring is so ex- 

 quisite at eight or nine weeks old, are apt to 

 prove deceptive in the end, and often develop 

 into shaded silvers." 



To Miss Cope's last statements I can add 

 my testimony, but I will also mention a curious 

 case coming under my direct notice and re- 

 garding my own silver stud cat. " Cambyses " 

 is by " Mowgli " (a noted pale silver of " Silver 

 Lambkin " strain) and a handsome silver tabby 

 unknown to fame, being a house pet. When 

 I became possessed of " Cambyses," then five 

 months old, he was a decided silver tabby, 

 taking after his mother ; he has since shed all 

 his markings, except faint grey pencillings on 

 head and legs, and is one of the lightest silvers 

 at stud. When mated to smokes and silvers 

 I have not known or heard of any tabbies in 

 the litters ; but on one occasion, when crossed 

 with a silver tabby, he had some very densely 

 marked tabbies. I have remarked that this 

 beautiful breed of Persians has not been taken 

 up by American fanciers in the same enthu- 

 siastic manner as have blues, orange, and 

 especially silvers. In an account given by 

 Field and Fancy of the Beresford Cat Club 

 show in New York, January, 1903, I find 

 mention made that over 125 long-haired cats 

 were entered, and that in the silver classes 

 alone there were thirty-five entries, almost as 

 many as were entered in the whole long-haired 

 section of the previous year. The smoke male 

 class was cancelled, but eight females of this 

 breed put in an appearance. No mention is 

 made of silver tabbies. Amongst the winners 

 of the challenge cups offered by the Atlantic 

 Cat Club, a silver tabby called " Queenie," 

 owned by Mrs. Wagner, carried off the trophy. 

 Miss A. Leake, of silver tabby fame in the 

 English fancy, has exported some of her stock, 

 and no doubt our American cousins will not 

 let this beautiful breed remain long neglected, 

 but some enthusiastic fancier will establish a 

 strain on the other side of the herring pond. 



At the Westminster Cat Club show of 1903, 

 held about the same time as the Beresford 

 New York show, the entries in the three classes 

 provided for silver tabbies numbered twenty- 



