230 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



marked ones, and not switch about in search of 

 all sorts of blood crosses ; for the way to breed tabbies 

 is to keep to the colour and get the marks, which too 

 many crosses with solid-coloured cats are liable to 

 spoil. After a time the purely bred and carefully 

 bred strains will stand out and perpetuate themselves, 

 and the chance-breds will go to the wall. 



It has been surmised that the reason why the 

 browns are so hardy is that possibly they more 

 nearly approach the natural colour of cats in a wild 

 state, and are perhaps not quite so artificial ; but 

 the number that will be bred of superlative colouring 

 to fill the standard from a show point of view will 

 never be too numerous to command high prices, and 

 the greater the competition the greater the value of 

 the variety, as we see in our dogs. For it is in the 

 popular breeds that the prices rule the highest, and 

 the scarce ones seldom realise the same figures, 

 because there is not the same keen competition to 

 get the best. 



When we look back we can call to mind quite a 

 few good brown tabbies in the last seven years, and 

 not very many bad ones, and for uniform quality our 

 browns have been the equal of any colour. 



Breeders should be careful to select those with the 

 brown or red body colour, and with the stripes as dis- 

 tinct as possible. In our own experience with the 

 colour we have found three varieties, and these are 

 best described as they appear at birth. No. i is 



the cat with a narrow band down the centre of the 

 back, and thin, narrow lines radiating therefrom. 

 These marks may be very distinct when the cat is 

 young, but are not strong enough for a long-haired 

 cat, and the marks are lost when the coat grows. 

 Though these cats are not the best of exhibition cats, 

 they are very useful to breed to those too heavily 

 marked. No. 2 is the cat that is heavily marked and 

 carries too much black, and is often too grey in his 

 body colour, but these, by being carefully bred to 

 other colours, may throw the desired cat ; or No. 3, 

 the cat with the orange body colour and the distinct 

 black marks covering about a third of the surface 

 of the cat. This latter we hope to see in greater 

 numbers now that an organised effort is being made 

 to breed the colour true. 



A great many of our browns are clear of one great 

 fault, which is the light chin and throat, and it is 

 to be hoped that this will be continued. 



Another fault that wants improving, and which is 

 the prevailing fault in one of our prominent strains, 

 is a rather sour green eye, and this has been the cause 

 of some of them having to take a back seat on occa- 

 sions. Last yeSar was fortunately a great educator 

 for some of our best breeders, and they are now 

 experimenting along the right lines, and are aware, 

 when they lose, why it is so. As the years roll on 

 those who do learn will not expect to win over better 

 cats just because they think they ought. 



A TRIO OF TABBIES. 

 (Photo: C. ReiJ, Wishaw.) 



