224 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT; 



of the mother. But when mated to poor old 

 ' Persimmon ' the kittens have been equally 

 divided, always two resembling the maternal 

 side exactly, and two following out ' Per- 

 simmon's ' beautiful splashes. When mated 

 to a brown tabby all the kittens were brown. 

 She has never thrown a black ; but her 

 daughter, whose father was ' Abdul Zaphir,' 

 and who I also mated to ' Persimmon,' had 

 two blacks and two very dark tabbies in her 

 litter. ' Wiggs ' has in all her five litters had 

 only two females. Her average is four or five . 

 kittens ; she looks after them entirely herself, 

 and has never been the worse for so doing ; 

 but I do not allow her more than one family 

 a year, and until the kittens can lap she is fed 

 every two hours." 



The best-marked brown tabby I have ever 

 seen was Lady Marcus Beresford's' " Bas- 

 sorah," who was unfortunately given away 

 and lost. Her markings looked like oil paint- 

 ing, they stood out in such distinct relief- 

 Another specimen of a different type was 

 imported by Lady Marcus Beresford, namely 

 " Kismet." She was of the ticked order, with 

 small pencilled markings, very compact and 

 cobby in shape. Mrs. Herring has always 

 possessed good brown tabbies. To begin with, 

 " Adolphe," who used formerly to win every- 

 thing till his son, " Prince Tawny Boy," 

 stepped into his shoes, to be displaced later 

 by his own son, " Prince Adolphe," and his 

 exquisite daughter, " Floriana," now in 

 America. Another good son of " Adolphe's " 

 was Mrs. Bonar's " Lord Salisbury." To go 

 back as far as I can recollect, there was Mr. 

 Horrel's " Nero," and Mrs. Pearce's " Juliet " 

 and " Rosebud," also Miss Malony's " Lind- 

 fields Lion " and the Hon. Mrs. McLaren 

 Morrison's " Cetewayo " and " Mazawattee," 

 this latter a really wonderful cat which was im- 

 ported by Mrs. Davies at the same time as the 

 celebrated " Nizam," and reported to be his 

 brother. Anyway, he resembled him greatly 

 in everything but colour. 



For sables we, of course, go to the Birkdale 

 strain. I remember the incomparable " Birk- 

 dale Ruffie " in his full glory at the Crystal 



Palace a mass of red-brown fur, of the style 

 of "Persimmon Laddie," but with more dis- 

 tinct markings and a very keen, almost fierce, 

 expression ; in fact, he looked like a wild 

 animal ! 



Then " Master Ruffie " appeared as a kitten, 

 and later as a mild edition of his sire. From 

 this celebrated strain Miss Whitney's lovely 

 sables are descended. This enthusiastic fan- 

 cier has kindly written some notes on her 

 favourite breed. Her cats are all pets, and 

 lead a life of luxury in their town and country 

 houses on the other side of the Irish Channel. 

 Miss Whitney says : 



" I am pleased to see that brown tabbies are 

 coming to the front again, after being such a 

 long time in the background. It now rests 

 with fanciers of this charming variety of the 

 feline species to improve them in all points. 

 We hear often that they should be a rich tan 

 in ground colour, clear and dense in markings, 

 profuse in coat, ruff and frill, large round head, 

 small ears, and no white lip. I should con- 

 sider this a perfect specimen ; but where is such 

 to be had ? I do not say it will not be obtained, 

 but up to this I have never seen it. Now 

 what we are to endeavour is to breed up to 

 this high standard. This will take time, no 

 doubt ; but, above all, do not let us give up 

 everything for markings, though they are very 

 essential. 



" My idea of a brown tabby is that it 

 must be of a rich tawny ground colour. How 

 could a brown tabby be called a brown if 

 it is only a greyish drab ? I should prefer to do 

 without such perfect markings, but to have 

 the more desirable rich colour, and, above all, 

 plenty of coat, ruff, and frill ; if it has not 

 these latter qualities, it could not be called a 

 Persian, which must have an abundance of 

 fine soft-textured coat. If we only breed for 

 marking, why not mate to a ' short-hair,' 

 which is more likely to be perfect in that point ? 

 But then, where would be our true Persian ? 

 Now, as to white lip, I have never seen a good 

 brown tabby without it, but I hear that there 

 are such, though they fail in colour. I would 

 prefer the well-coated cat with good colour 



