The Cat: Its Natural History; Domestic Varieties; Management and Treatment

by Philip M. Rule

TABBY CAT.

Brown Tabby.—Although there is considerable individual variation in these cats, the general characteristics are as follows:—The ground-colour should be a deep, rich brown grey, striped with black. These markings converge from a central stripe of black, more or less broken, which follows the line of the spine, a mark in some degree characteristic of the whole feline race. The tail is barred with black, and a line of narrow stripes runs from the forehead, passes between the ears, and, passing down the neck, it disappears. The face is adorned with little swirls and stripes, so disposed as to give the general expression of the countenance that air of satisfaction so peculiar to puss. The under parts of the body may be of a paler colour, but no pure white is seen in a true tabby tom-cat. The tip of the nose, the lips, and the pads of the paws are to be desired of a dark colour. One, if not two, bold swirls of black across the chest are to be looked for in these cats. They have been appropriately termed “the Lord Mayor’s chain.” These tabby cats are generally large, portly animals, if properly reared, very intelligent, and often most affectionate. The females are most gentle, and the best of mothers.

Blue or Silver Tabby.—This is a pale variety of tabby, which is sometimes beautiful. The ground-colour is a silver grey, with the stripes of a darker shade.

Red Tabby.—In bold contrast with the blue, these fine cats are of a bright sandy yellow, with the usual markings of a deeper shade. Some of these cats are of very good colour, so much so as to be distinguished by their proud owners under the very aspiring title of “Orange Tabby.” These cats, in the main points, are like the brown tabby. The fur should be short, but full and thick, the ears rather short and round. In the tabby breeds the female is seldom without white, which generally appears upon the muzzle, throat, paws, etc. This is, most remarkably, a characteristic in the red tabby cats, a female of that colour without white being almost as rare a zoological curiosity as the wonderful tortoiseshell tom.

Spotted Tabby cats are distinguished from the others by having, instead of the usual stripes or cloudings, a pattern of quite a distinct type. The markings are broken up into small, well-defined spots, being more or less elongated upon the sides, transversely to the stripes along the back.

In the class of spotted tabby he-cats at the Crystal Palace there might have been seen a specimen named “Coppa,” which was justly awarded first prize. The owner of this cat, Mr. J. Scott, has kindly favoured me with the history of Coppa, which is of some interest when regarded zoologically. The father of Coppa was a leopard-cat (Felis Bengalensis), picked up at an East Indian coffee plantation, and brought to England by a gentleman, who handed it over to Mr. Scott. He kept it for two years, and bred ten kittens by two mothers. Coppa is one of these kittens. As his mother was an English tabby, and as the pedigree of the sire is so unmistakably pure, and of the spotted kind, it is not surprising that he was the model of a spotted tabby.

It will not be out of place here to give a brief description of the leopard-cat, as delineated in “Cassell’s Natural History.”

“This is another of the numerous Indian cats, and is a very beautiful species. Its hide is of a yellowish grey, or bright tawny hue, quite white below, and marked with longitudinal stripes on the head, shoulders, and back, and with large irregular spots on the sides, which become rounded towards the belly. The tail is a spotted colour, indistinctly ringed towards the tip. The body, from the end of the snout to the tip of the tail, attains a length of from thirty-five to thirty-nine inches, eleven or twelve of which are made up by the tail.

“The leopard-cat is found throughout the hilly region of India, from the Himalayas to the extreme south, and Ceylon, and in richly wooded districts, at a low elevation occasionally, or when heavy jungle grass is abundant, mixed with forest and brushwood. It ascends the Himalayas to a considerable elevation, and is said by Hodgson even to occur in Tibet, and is found at the level of the sea in the Bengal Sunderbunds. It extends through Assam, Burmah, the Malayan peninsula to the islands of Java and Sumatra, at all events. It is as fierce as any of its savage kin.”