346 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



It is the misfortune of the smoke cat that 

 it has been indiscriminately and unintelligently 

 crossed with the black and the silver tabby, 

 and, worst of all, with the blue. Strangely 



cross with whatever is least likely to introduce 

 stripes i.e. a self-coloured cat, or preferably a 

 shaded one. Of course, any tinge of red or 

 brown is to be avoided, and, therefore, the only 



enough, there seems to be some close affinity shaded cat left to us is the smoke, and a green- 



between the smoke and the silver tabby, 

 and it should be our object, as far as possible, 



eyed smoke is certainly the safest cross we can 

 get, as it is sufficiently akin to the chinchilla 



to keep them apart. To this connection is to obviate the risk of a violent out-cross. The 



attributable the prevalence of green eyes and 

 leg and face markings among smoke cats. In 



black is, I think, the next best cross, for it is 

 just possible that the colours may not inter- 



crossing smokes there are many difficulties to fere with one another, and that we shall get 



contend with. We must keep the light under- 

 coat, but avoid markings ; we must have the 

 black face and legs 

 and retain the light 

 frill ; and we must 

 have orange eyes. 

 All crosses with tabby 

 must be avoided, or 

 we shall never get rid 

 of face pencillings ; 

 but judicious crosses 

 of black, blue, or 

 (best of all) chinchilla 

 may be of service. 

 A black cross is 

 better than blue be- 

 cause, though either 

 endangers the under- 

 coat, it will intensify the black mask and legs. 

 The one advantage of a blue cross is that it 

 will, sooner than any other, help to eliminate 

 markings ; but the blue kittens from such a 



MISS GODDARI) S PAIR OF KITTKXS 

 (rhoto : E. Ltitutor, Ealinx.) 



pure black and clear silver kittens of course, 

 a green-eyed black must be used. Third on 



the list comes the 

 white ; but this 

 cross makes for ab- 

 sence of markings, 

 and therefore de- 

 mands great caution, 

 as thereby the black 

 noses and e y e 1 i d s 

 which add so much 

 to the charm of a 

 chinchilla may be 

 lost and the result be 

 merely a dingy, dirty 

 white cat. This ani- 

 mal, though not par- 

 ticularly attractive 



in itself, is, I need hardly say, invaluable 

 for crossing again either with a clear-coloured 

 chinchilla, a black, or even a blue. 



A blue cross is, as a rule, rather objection- 



cross must be sternly rejected, as their colour able, because it seems to produce a muddy, 



will never be satisfactory. The chinchilla is 

 the best cross for the smoke so far as colour 

 is concerned, and an orange-eyed chinchilla 

 should be of service for breeding smokes with 

 light frills and good under-coats. A cross of 

 chinchilla may with advantage follow a black 

 cross. 



We now get to the subject of chinchilla 

 breeding ; it is a matter of common know- 

 ledge that chinchillas were produced as the 

 result of careful in-breeding, and, therefore, 



dull colour, but there is no doubt that it 

 may occasionally be resorted to with success. 

 I should suggest that the blue parent (a green- 

 eyed one, of course) should be the sire, as 

 when the reverse is the case the kittens are 

 frequently blue tabby. 



I do not think any colours besides those I 

 have mentioned should be crossed with chin- 

 chillas, though I must confess that chinchilla 

 kittens occasionally turn up most unexpectedly. 

 I recollect a very pale one appearing in a litter 



until the breed is more firmly established, any whose sire was a cream of brown tabby and 

 sudden outcross is likely to cause a reversion cream parentage, and whose dam was a pale 

 to the barred ancestors. The idea, then, is to blue bred from a blue and a blue tabby. There 



