294 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



' One standard governs all the three colours. 

 The ground or body colour must be pure, 

 and clear from any other colour. In a great 

 many well-marked ones I meet in the show 

 pen the rusty brown tinge on nose, ears, 

 and brindled in the body markings puts 

 them out of the prize list. It is a great mis- 

 take to cross the silver tabby with the brown 

 tabby or with one that has in its pedigree the 

 brown tabby blood. If the black markings 

 need a darker shade, my advice is use for once 

 the self black. If you 

 do not get the desired 

 effect the first cross, 

 the youngsters mated 

 together have been 

 known to breed some 

 really good ones. By 

 all means, if possible, 

 get into your silvers 

 green eyes. I am 

 aware that the stand- 

 ard says green or 

 orange eyes ; but in all 

 cases where the com- 

 petition is very keen 

 the orange eyes are a 

 distinct disadvantage. 



" In the breeding of 

 the orange tabby you 

 need to be very care- 

 ful. The use of the 

 tortoiseshell has been 



found to be very advantageous ; in fact, some 

 of our best orange tabbies have been bred 

 from the tortoiseshells. The mixing of these 

 two varieties, if done carefully, will bring 

 success on both sides ; but care should be 

 taken not to bring too much of the tortoise- 

 shell into the orange, or, on the other hand, 

 carry too much orange into the tortoiseshell. 

 The pale yellow eye in an orange is a great 

 point against it winning in the keen competi- 

 tion which we have at the present time. 



" The eyes must be a very rich orange, 

 to match the body colour, which should 

 be two or three shades lighter than the 

 markings. 



OWNED BY LADY ALEXANDER. 

 (Photo : Russell & Sons, Crystal Palace.) 



" In the browns we have two distinct 

 colours the sable colour and the old brown 

 colour. The old cat that I have referred to 

 of Lady Decies' was a sable tabby. No doubt 

 this colour is the more taking of the two, but 

 both are useful, and the old brown coloui 

 must not by any means be overlooked in our 

 liking for the sable colour. In all the colours of 

 tabbies we find that the chief bad points are 

 the white lips in the sables mostly, the white 

 spots in the chest in our orange, and the rusty 



mousy colour in our 

 silvers. The colour of 

 eyes, too, in our 

 browns and sables is 

 far from what it ought 

 to be. Some eyes are 

 a pale green, some a 

 pale yellow. All this 

 p roves that the 

 breeders at times go 

 too far in the out- 

 crossing, and bring in 

 with it faults that 

 crop up when those 

 crossings are nearly 

 forgotten. 



" In the breeding of 

 browns nothing more 

 is needed than what 

 we have namely, 

 the sable colour ones 

 and the old coloured 



browns. The blending together of these 

 two colours will put any breeder on the high- 

 way to success. I am more than surprised 

 that this variety is not stronger than it is 

 at the present time. I am sure, of all the 

 race and colours of tabbies they are the easiest 

 to breed, and yet we find they are the fewest 

 in number at our big shows. In looking for 

 a real good tabby, do not miss the chest, feet, 

 and tail. We have a great lot of good cats if 

 body markings and colour were all that was 

 needed, but when it comes to the ringed tail, 

 the rings around the chest, and the markings 

 right down to the toe ends, then they ' come a 

 cropper,' as we say in the North. 



