CATS IN AMERICA. 



32! 



of the Maltese, from the point of view of the 

 breeder of long-hairs, has been that the blue 

 colour has been so common that when the 

 blue Persian was introduced he was not, in 

 this country, considered peculiar. Among 

 the Maine cats, so called, the blue or Maltese 

 colour was not at all uncommon, and plenty 

 of this colour are to be found. Some people 

 who bred them obtained their stock from Paris, 



them ; but, still, the fact is pretty evident 

 that short-haired blues have been a popular 

 colour for a long time, and there are so many 

 that everyone, whether cat fancier or not, is 

 quite used to the colour. The native-born 

 American, as a rule, calls this cat the Maltese, 

 and the name, as I said before, will cling for 

 many a day to come. In judging these cats, 

 I must say that the proportion of small or 



"AJAX," BLUE-EYED WHITE. 



OWNED HY MR. W. J. STEVENS. 

 (Photo: Coleman, Westfield, Mass.) 



and no doubt the Chartreuse blue of olden 

 times had a good deal to do with many of these. 



The oldest blue cat I ever saw was one 

 reared on a farm ; he had always lived out of 

 doors, more or less, and was the farm cat. 

 His age was twenty-four years, and as he was 

 born at the same time as the oldest son, who 

 was also twenty-four years old, the evidence 

 was pretty good that the age was correct. 



It must not be supposed from this that blue 

 cats are so numerous as to overshadow other 

 colours in North America, for we have short- 

 hairs in all the common colours, and lots of 

 21 



short, round-headed cats is small, and that 

 these in America, at least are not the most 

 common type of blue cat ; and I, personally, 

 in judging have usually inclined to the more 

 lengthy cat with longer face and bigger ears, 

 though I think it is possible to find plenty 

 without absolutely mean-looking heads. We 

 do not want a ferret's head on a cat, for there 

 is a happy medium. 



WILD SPECIES. 



We cannot leave the American exhibition cats 

 without saying a word upon the wild species, 



