COLOUR BREEDING.
Colour breeding is a most fascinating pursuit; but, unfortunately, the
average cat fancier lacks the patience to follow it out to a
satisfactory conclusion.
There is no doubt that by judicious cross-breeding new colours could
be produced, and I think that they will be produced in time. I have
seen a chocolate-brown cat and a yellow cat with black stripes, and no
doubt they will appear again; also chestnut-brown cats and white cats
striped with black may be bred.
The point which I wish to discuss on this occasion is not so much the
experimental cross as the cross which is desirable to improve existing
colours. I do not consider that a white cat should be crossed with any
other colour. There is no advantage to be gained in this case by
crossing, as we already have white cats good in bone, substance, head,
shape, etc., and no other colour of cat possesses blue eyes. I do not
for a moment suggest that good white cats have not been bred from
coloured parents, but this is unnecessary and undesirable, because
there is a risk of introducing coloured patches and smudges and yellow
or green eyes, and there is no corresponding advantage to be gained.
In the same way I do not consider that it is a good thing to breed
from white cats with yellow or odd eyes. Blue-eyed kittens have been
bred from two yellow-eyed parents, and frequently when one parent has
yellow or odd eyes the kittens are all blue-eyed, but this can in no
way be depended upon.
Black cats are a little more difficult to handle than whites, because
a white is necessarily white, while there is sometimes a diversity of
opinion where a black is concerned. The most important point to keep
before us in black-breeding is the colour of eyes. Whatever we cross
with we must be careful that we do not lose the orange eyes, for they
are most elusive, and we are, therefore, somewhat limited in our
selection of suitable crosses. A smoky or dirty black is an
abomination, and for this reason I consider that from the point of
view of the black cat all crosses with blues, smokes, or silvers
should be avoided; in any case a _good_ silver would be impossible
because of its green eyes. A rusty black is undesirable, but a rusty
kitten usually makes a better-coloured cat than a smoky one, though
there are notable exceptions to this rule. A good orange-eyed
tortoiseshell or red tabby, or an orange, are all suitable mates for a
black. A curious thing I have noticed is that the best blacks are bred
from bright clear-coloured cats, and that dull colours, such as
smokes, blues, and fawns, do not, as a rule, produce good-coloured
kittens. For this reason I should prefer blacks bred from an
orange-eyed silver tabby to those bred from a dark brown tabby. On the
whole, a brightly coloured tortoiseshell will be found to throw the
best blacks.
[Illustration:
“PATRICIA,” BROWN TABBY.
BRED BY MISS FANNY ELLIS, TORONTO.
]
Of the crossing of blues with any other colour I do not approve,
because we have many different blue strains, among which can be found
all the different points which are desired. Comparisons are odious,
but if I refer to the Bath show of 1903 I can explain what I mean.
“Skellingthorpe Patrick” is a beautiful cat in all points except eyes,
but “Don Carlos” and several other blue males in the class had
glorious orange eyes. I have often heard that crossing a blue with a
white will produce very pale blue kittens; I have not found this to be
so, and it seems unlikely, for mate a black cat with a white one as
often as you like, and you may wait a lifetime before they breed a
blue kitten; therefore why should a dark blue and a white produce a
pale blue kitten? Sometimes crossing with a black is recommended “to
get the orange eyes,” but it must be remarked that the proportion of
black cats with good orange eyes is quite as low as that of blues.
When this cross is resorted to, let the black parent be the male, as
otherwise the kittens may very likely all be black.
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 enough,
there seems to be some close affinity between the smoke and the silver
tabby, and it should be our object, as far as possible, to keep them
apart. To this connection is attributable the prevalence of green eyes
and leg and face markings among smoke cats. In crossing smokes there
are many difficulties to 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
because, 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 cross must be sternly rejected, as their colour
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.
[Illustration:
MISS GODDARD’S PAIR OF KITTENS.
(_Photo: E. Landor, Ealing._)
]
We now get to the subject of chinchilla breeding; it is a matter of
common knowledge that chinchillas were produced as the result of
careful in-breeding, and, therefore, until the breed is more firmly
established, any sudden out-cross is likely to cause a reversion to
the barred ancestors. The idea, then, is to 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 shaded cat left to us is the smoke,
and a green-eyed smoke is certainly the safest cross we can get, as it
is sufficiently akin to the chinchilla to obviate the risk of a
violent out-cross. The black is, I think, the next best cross, for it
is just possible that the colours may not interfere with one another,
and that we shall get 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 absence of markings, and therefore demands great
caution, as thereby the black noses and eyelids which add so much to
the charm of a chinchilla may be lost and the result be merely a
dingy, dirty white cat. This animal, though not particularly
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 objectionable, because it seems to
produce a muddy, 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 chinchillas, though I must confess that chinchilla
kittens occasionally turn up most unexpectedly. I recollect a very
pale one appearing in a litter whose sire was a cream of brown tabby
and cream parentage, and whose dam was a pale blue bred from a blue
and a blue tabby. There may have been silver tabby blood in the
strain, but certainly no chinchilla. For all this I do not recommend a
cream or tortoiseshell cross, as the chances are all against the
kittens being any good, and it is laying up a store of disappointments
in the next generation. We have all possessed cats which, though
beautiful in themselves, never threw a kitten worth keeping. I had a
little cat myself bred from two chinchilla parents. The dam was a
well-known winner, and her ancestry was, I knew, irreproachable, and
the sire’s appeared to be equally so, though I was told afterwards
that he often sired brown tabby kittens. But my queen (herself a
prize-winner), no matter how she was mated, invariably threw brown
tabby kittens.
We now come to the very fascinating subject of tabbies, and I may as
well say at once that any amount of crossing is for the present
desirable and even necessary, but it must be done systematically and
under a careful and experienced eye. The novice is likely to fail
because he does not understand the essential points of a tabby. Let
him keep before his mind the fact that if two distinct black stripes
run the whole length of the spine and if the chest markings are good
there is not likely to be much wrong with his cat’s other markings.
[Illustration:
“LOLLYPOP,” ONE OF LADY MARCUS BERESFORD’S SILVERS.
(_Photo: E. Landor, Ealing._)
]
In the brown tabby, the markings have become too heavy, they have run
together and spread into a heavy black saddle; while the ground colour
has lost warmth and white chins are prevalent. With the “sable” cat,
be it understood, I have no fault to find; I can forgive him even his
white chin, because he is such a magnificent animal; but he is not a
tabby, and should not be shown as such.
In the brown tabby we want dense black markings on a clear
golden-brown ground. The black is there right enough, but it wants
“breaking up.” A cross of strongly marked red tabby is the thing; not
a “self-orange,” mind you—that would only make things worse—but the
best-coloured red, with a dark chin, that can be found. When the
markings want intensifying, as may be the case after the red cross, we
must mate with a black; but I do not think this will be necessary, as
brown tabbies rarely “wash out” as silvers do. It is curious to note
that many years ago I bred quantities of beautifully marked silver
tabbies and brown tabbies from a brown tabby sire and a sandy, silver
tabby dam, both of unknown pedigree. The silvers were clear and pure
in colour, with capital black markings, and the browns had good rich
colouring. This is a cross I should certainly hesitate to recommend,
but there are possibilities concealed therein, and it is worth an
occasional experiment with the sole object of rescuing the degenerate
tabby markings.
It is a curious fact that while the tabby is supposed to be the common
ancestor of all our cats, the tabby markings should be the most
difficult point to retain in the pedigree cat.
A brown tabby cat with a good-coloured chin should always be retained
to breed from, even if it fails in some other points.
It is, I know, the general opinion that the craze for chinchillas has
ruined the silver tabby, but I do not feel convinced that this is so.
I am of the opinion that the constant breeding of silver tabby to
silver tabby will eventually result in the production of poorly marked
cats. Let me give an example: “Felix Mottisford” was a very heavily
barred son of “Champion Felix,” and “Patz” was also heavily barred and
bred from silver tabbies. Two of their kittens were “Silver Midget”
and “My Fairy.” “Midget” was a prettily marked silver tabby, but much
lighter than her parents, and showed a strong tendency to throw
unmarked kittens. “Fairy” was certainly a silver tabby, but her
markings were entirely on the surface, and as she grew older faded
away until she was more shaded than barred. Mated with a blue, she
produced four chinchilla kittens; mated with “Lord Southampton,” there
were two well-marked silver tabbies and two chinchillas (this litter
included “Dimity” and “Abbess of Broomholme”); mated with “Silver
Lambkin,” there was one chinchilla kitten—“Fitz Eustace”—and the rest
were silver tabbies; by “Tuan,” a much more marked cat, the kittens
were all chinchillas (“Tuan,” I may mention, was a distant cousin of
“Fairy”); by “Silver Lustre” there were two chinchillas and two silver
tabbies. I then parted with her, and she afterwards had, by “Silver
Chieftain,” a litter of silver tabbies and chinchillas, including
“Silver Tangle” and “Silver Sprite.” After that date I have no record
of her doings, but it can be seen that she certainly showed an
inclination on her own account towards chinchilla kittens, and this, I
take it, was the result of the continued mating together of silver
tabby cats. I do not consider any other cross than black is admissible
in a silver tabby strain, but the introduction of black blood is
necessary from time to time if markings are to be retained. I go so
far as to say that a cross of green-eyed black in every third
generation would be a wise precaution.
[Illustration:
THREE LITTLE AMERICANS.
]
The red tabby, the orange, and the tortoiseshell are rather hopelessly
mixed up at present. The self-orange (so-called) did not exist a few
years ago, but of late a premium has been put on absence of marking,
and a lot of cats with self-coloured or shaded bodies and striped
faces appear in the orange classes and win all the prizes. I have no
fault to find with the shade of colour of these cats; they are a
beautiful bright clear orange, but if they are to be self-coloured the
face markings must go. Crossing with blue gets over this difficulty,
but we immediately lose brightness of colour and get dull yellows and
fawns. Tortoiseshell is a safe cross, but the ancestry of the
tortoiseshell must be carefully inquired into, and one bred from black
and tortoiseshell is best, or we can go direct to the black. Tabby
cats or any of a blue or grey colour should be avoided in this
connection.
Clear, pale yellow creams may be bred from oranges and tortoiseshells;
but these must not be confounded with the fawn-coloured cats, often
called creams, which are more common and easy to breed. Though creams
and fawns occasionally appear in the same litter this is generally the
fault of their ancestors, and can be accounted for if the pedigree is
known on both sides. As a matter of fact, I have never seen one of
these clear yellow creams which was not descended, however remotely,
from Mrs. Kinchant’s strain. Examples of the colour I mean are “Cupid
Bassanio,” “Zoroaster,” “Dairy Maid,” “Mistletoe,” and a few of their
descendants.
[Illustration:
“HOLMLEA THISTLEDOWN.”
OWNED BY MRS. KEEP, SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES.
]
To breed fawn creams is, comparatively, a simple matter, as a cross of
blue and orange will almost invariably produce some fawn kittens,
especially if the dam is blue. When the dam is orange or tortoiseshell
there will often be a number of blue tortoiseshell kittens which are
valueless. Some people like them to breed fawn creams from, but I have
never found them more useful for this purpose than a correctly
coloured tortoiseshell.
Tortoiseshells are entirely neglected by fanciers nowadays, and are
only used as a stepping-stone to more fashionable colours. There is no
doubt that a tortoiseshell can be got to breed anything! I knew a
queen which bred magnificent blacks, blues, creams, oranges, fawns,
and smokes, whether mated to a blue, a cream, or a smoke, and I
believe she also threw chinchilla kittens to a chinchilla sire. To
breed tortoiseshells for the show pen we must not indulge in any
haphazard matings. The fault of the tortoiseshells is, as a rule, that
the red and yellow has run all over the black, and instead of having a
clear patchwork of red, yellow, and black, we have a blur containing a
preponderance of yellow. The obvious remedy is our old friend the
black. All the best tortoiseshells are bred from blacks, and a black
and a red tabby or orange will generally throw some good
tortoiseshells. To produce tortoiseshell-and-whites cross a
tortoiseshell with a black-and-white rather than with a white, but
avoid red tabby, as a tortoiseshell-and-white cat frequently shows
tabby markings for this breeding.
The red tabby has nearly died out among long-haired cats, though it
flourishes in the short-haired variety, but by crossing a brown tabby
with an orange it might be revived. No doubt there would be a few
mismarked kittens in the litter, but the chances would be in favour of
a good red tabby, and the colour could then be preserved by crossing
with black and tortoiseshell only.
Of course, it is no use trying experiments in cross-breeding in the
hope of obtaining definite results unless we are satisfied as to the
pedigree of the cats employed for at least two generations, or all our
calculations may be upset. For example, when breeding for chinchillas,
if we used a black bred from a brown tabby mother the results would be
disastrous.
A point to be carefully noted in cross-breeding is to select a cat
with eyes of a colour desired in the breed which he is destined to
improve, whether those eyes would be correct in his own family or not.
This suggests a use for our rejected green-eyed blues and blacks and
our orange-eyed silvers.
My notes, as may be observed, are on the subject of long-haired cats,
but they will be found equally applicable to short-hairs.
HESTER COCHRAN.