Our Cats and All About Them / Their Varieties, Habits, and Management; and for Show, the Standard of Excellence and Beauty; Described and Pictured

by Harrison Weir

BLACK.

The best black, undoubtedly, are those bred from tortoiseshell mothers or females. The black is generally more dense, and less liable to show any signs of spots, bands, or bars, when the animal is in the sun or a bright light; when this is so, it is fatal to a black as regards its chance of a prize, or even notice, and it comes under the denomination of a black tabby.

If a black and a white cat are mated, let the black be the male, blacks having more stamina, the issue will probably be either white or black; and also when you wish the black to be perpetuated, the black male must be younger. In 1884, a black female cat was exhibited with five white kittens. I have just seen a beautiful black Persian whose mother was a clear white; this, and the foregoing example, prove either colour represents the same for the purpose of breeding to colour.

For breeding black with white, take care that the white is the gray-white, and not the yellow-white; the first generally has orange or yellow eyes, and this is one of the required qualities in the black cat. If a yellow-white with blue eyes, this type of eye would be detrimental, and most likely the eyes of the offspring would have a green stain, or possibly be of odd colours.

It should be borne in mind, that black kittens are seldom or ever so rich in colour when newly born, as they afterwards become; therefore, if without spots or bars, and of a deep self brown-black, they will in all possibility be fine in colour when they gain their adult coat. This the experienced fancier well knows, though the tyro often destroys that which will ultimately prove of value, simply from ignorance. An instance of the brown-black kitten is before me as I write, in a beautiful Persian, which is now changing from the dull kitten self brown-black on to a brilliant glossy, jetty beauty.

BLUES.

Blue in cats is one of the most extraordinary colours of any, for the reason that it is the mixture of black which is no colour, and white which is no colour, and this is the more curious because black mated with white generally produces either one colour or the other, or breaks black and white, or white and black. The blue being, as it were, a weakened black, or a withdrawal by white of some, if not all, of the brown or red, varying in tint according to the colour of the black from which it was bred, dark-gray, or from weakness in the stamina of the litter. In the human species an alliance of the Negro, or African race, and the European, produces the mulatto, and some other shades of coloured skin, though the hair generally retains the black hue; but seldom or ever are the colours broken up as in animal life, the only instance that has come to my knowledge, and I believe on record, being that of the spotted Negro boy, exhibited at fairs in England by Richardson, the famous showman; but in this case both the parents were black, and natives of South Africa. The boy arrived in England in September, 1809, and died February, 1813. His skin and hair were everywhere parti-coloured, transparent brown and white; on the crown of his head several triangles, one within the other, were formed by alternations of the colour of the hair.

In other domestic animals blue colour is not uncommon. Blue-tinted dogs, rabbits, horses of a blue-gray, or spotted with blue on a pink flesh colour, as in the naked horse shown at the Crystal Palace some years ago, also pigs; and all these have likewise broken colours of blue, or black, and white. I do not remember having seen any blue cattle, nor any blue guinea-pigs, but no doubt these latter will soon exist. When once the colour or break from the black is acquired, it is then easy to go on multiplying the different shades and varieties of tint and tone, from the dark blue-black to the very light, almost white-gray. In some places in Russia, I am told, blue cats are exceedingly common; I have seen several shown under the names of Archangel, and others as Chartreuse and Maltese cats. Persians are imported sometimes of this colour, both dark and light. Next kin to it is the very light-gray tabby, with almost the same hue, if not quite so light-gray markings. Two such mated have been known to produce very light self grays, and of a lovely hue, a sort of "morning gray"; these matched with black should breed blues. Old male black, and young female white cats, have been known to produce kittens this colour. There is a colony of farm cats at Rodmell, Sussex, from which very fine blues are bred. Light silver tabby males, and white females, are also apt to have one or so in a litter of kittens; but these generally are not such good blues, the colour being a gray-white, or nearly so, should the hair or coat be parted or divided, the skin being light. The very dark, if from brown-black, are not so blue, but come under the denomination of "smokies," or blue "smokies," with scarcely a tint of blue in them; some "smokies" are white, or nearly so, with dark tips to the hair; these more often occur among Persian than English cats, though I once had a smoky tabby bred from a black and a silver tabby. Importations of some of the former are often extremely light, scarcely showing any markings. These, and such as these, are very valuable where a self blue is desired. If these light colours are females, a smoke-coloured male is an excellent cross, as it already shows a weakened colour. For a very light, tender, delicate, light-gray long-haired self, I should try a white male, and either a rich blue, or a soft gray, extremely lightly-marked tabby.

As a rule, all broken whites, such as black and white, should be avoided; because, as I explained at the commencement of these notes on blues, the blue is black and white amalgamated, or the brown withdrawn from the colouring, or, if not, with the colours breaking, or becoming black and white. If whole coloured blues are in request, then parti-colours, such as white and black, or black and white, are best excluded. Blue and white are easily attainable by mating a blue male with a white and black female.

The best and deepest coloured of the blue short-haired cats are from Archangel. Those I have seen were very fine in colour, the pelage being the same colour to the skin, which was also dark and of a uniform lilac-tinted blue. Some come by chance. I knew of a blue English cat, winner of several prizes, whose parents were a black and white male mated with a "light-gray tabby" and white; but this was an exception to the rule, for strongly-marked tabbies are not a good cross.