I have tried for years to trace the origin of the Long-haired or Persian Cats, but I cannot find that they were known to antiquity, and even the records of later times only mention the Short-haired. European literature does not give us an insight into the subject; and unless Chinese history holds some hidden lights in its records, we are thrown back upon the myths of Persia to account for the wonderful modern distribution of the long-haired cat, which is gradually breeding out into as many varieties as the short-haired, with this difference—that greater care and trouble are taken over the long-haired, and they will, as a breed, probably soon surpass the short-haired for intelligence and culture.
Photo by H. Trevor Jessop.
THE "BUN" OR "TICKED" SHORT-HAIRED CAT.
This is one of the rarest cats in England. It belongs to Miss K. Maud Bennett who has kindly had it photographed for this work.
One variety is quite new and distinctive—the Smoke Long-haired, whose dark brown or black surface-coat, blown aside, shows an under-coat of blue and silver, with a light brown frill round its neck. All the other long-haired cats can pair with the short-haired for colouring and marking, but I have not yet seen a Bunny Long-haired.
CHAPTER III.
THE FOSSA, CIVETS, AND ICHNEUMONS.