BROWN TABBY PERSIANS. 



229 



Many of the silvers were very pure in colour, 

 with lovely markings. My old ' Climax,' 

 whose pedigree was pure silver (' Topso ' and 

 ' Lady Pink '), was the sire of the noted 

 brown tabby ' Birkdale Ruffie.' ' 



Before closing my article, I would remark 

 that the brown tabby and sable, though often 

 classed together, must not be confounded. 

 The brown tabby is supposed to be the common 

 ancestor of all our cats, and hence the tendency 

 to revert to that colour, as in the case of the 

 blue Rock pigeon. This being the case, 

 surely we should have brown tabby cats 

 more nearly approaching perfection than any 

 other colour. They appear in very unex- 

 pected places in a litter of chinchillas or 

 blacks, or among our oranges, and sometimes 

 where no brown ancestor can be traced. In 

 the brown tabby there seems to be little or no 

 inclination to lose the markings, as in other 

 tabbies ; rather the contrary, for they overdo 

 themselves sometimes, and form into solid 

 black patches, thus causing the dark saddle, 

 which is a serious fault in this breed. Query : 

 Would generations of in-breeding produce a 

 self brown, as with oranges and chinchillas ? 

 I rather doubt it, as I think the common 

 ancestor would, so to speak, " chip in " and 

 assert himself. 



As regards the sables, I may remark 

 that they are late in maturing and do not 

 acquire their marvellous colouring till about 

 the second year. Anyway, they rarely make 

 a sensation on their first appearance. As I 

 write I am thinking of " Persimmon Laddie," 

 who seems to have developed his glorious 

 copper coat in the course of a year, and when 

 seen at the Crystal Palace show of 1902 was 

 a"s near perfection in the matter of colouring 

 as could be desired. I hope that in time this 

 breed of Persians may find more admirers, and 

 that with patience and perseverance a really 

 good strain of grand-coloured, dark-chinned, 

 and above all splendidly marked brown tabby 

 cats may be seen at our shows. 



In America, as will be seen from the follow- 

 ing extract from Field and Fancy, the brownies 

 are making good headway : 

 15* 



BROWN TABBIES IN AMERICA. 



The brown tabby cat, whose fate seemed to hang in 

 the balance for some time, is now, in America, on the 

 road to social prominence, and daily we hear of the 

 progress of the breed, so that the classes next winter 

 seem to promise greater results than ever. From all 

 over we hear of brown tabbies being bred and reared, 

 and, what is more, finding homes at remunerative 

 prices. In looking at the reasons for the popularity 

 of the browns we do not have far to seek, for when 

 once well tried, these cats wheedle their way into your 

 affections by the strength and vitality they display, 



BROWN TABBY GOOXIE. 



as a rule ; and the general average being level in their 

 temper, with plenty of common sense, as well as bold, 

 lovable cats, are very satisfactory to deal with. 

 Besides these attributes, when bred properly, their 

 colour is most fascinating, and has a faculty of grow- 

 ing upon one, and weaker colours seem tame by 

 comparison. 



So far as we can say, that as regards the brown 

 tabbies, the whites and orange, there have been more 

 concentrated efforts to breed good ones by design 

 than in any of the colours, though the silver breeders 

 are now coming up. 



Taking a general look at our cats of this colour, we 

 have little to be ashamed of, and the stock is good 

 enough to make the nucleus of a fine lot of show cats, 

 for they inherit their goodness from several genera- 

 tions of the colour, which is much to the point. 



Our breeders will find that to breed good tabbies 

 they will have to keep to blood lines, select the best- 



