American Interest in Cats.— American interest in the cat is often said to have origi nated within the last 20 years, that is, since the advent of exhibitions and the taking up of the cat-cult by the public. This impression is not borne out by facts, for we have exhibitors who have intimately studied cats, have bred and raised them, and have cared for them for over 60 years, and cat-shows were held in Maine be tween 1860 and 1870, even before the great ex hibition instituted in London by the well-known animal painter, Harrison Weir, in the year 1871. But cat-shows in America were not known outside of Maine until one was held in the Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1895. The exhibitions in England have gone on from Mr. Weir's first show up to the pres ent time, so that the marking epochs in modern cat history may be dated from the Crystal Palace show in 1871, and the New York show in April 1895. From these shows has arisen what may be described as a cult, or in some ways an industry. Numbers of individuals, principally women, have taken up the cat as a partial means of livelihood, selling those they rear by exhibiting them to the public, the out come of which has been the production of dif ferent colors, strains and families. Clubs have arisen for the care and maintenance of exhibi tions; registers and stud-hooks have been started; and the importance of cats of known pedigree is duly recognized by our government as one of the many things to be considered and provided for in a tariff schedule.
The varieties or breeds recognized in shows are the Persian, Siamese, Abyssinian and or dinary domestic short-haired cats. The Per sian and Angora may be said to be the same cat, though distinctions were drawn in old days; but these were very indefinite, and at the pres ent time we draw up rules and regulations for two large groups, the long-haired cats and the short-haired cats, and these are judged by points and classified by color distinctions. An gora is a small place, and comparatively few cats could have come from there, but many have come from other parts of Asia. Taking the long-haired division first, because commer cially it is the most prominent, the judge re quires that the cat shall be short in body with a short tail and short legs, the latter shorter in front than behind. The chest should be wide, the loin square and firm, the bones of the legs well delevoped and the frame sturdy. The head that corresponds with this formation and is required is a broad, round head with short, wide nose, eyes large and round and set well apart. The ears, a most important feature, should be as small as possible and placed on the side of the head, the base of the ear being narrow, not gaping wide opts, with a tuft of hair at the apex. This standard is more or less based upon original imported specimens from Asia. The colors most valuable and most approved are the light silvers, smokes, blues (or slate color) white, black, orange, cream and tortoise-shells; and the tabbies of different colors are also favorites. The tabby cat is a cat that has a light ground-color and is spotted, barred or striped with darker color, and the word °tabby') has no reference to the sex of the animal. The name is derived from
Atab, a street in Bagdad celebrated for its manufacture of watered or moire silks, which in England were called atabi or utaffety.° The most usual colors in tab cats are yellow, marked with orange or red, making what are called orange tabbies; yellow brown, marked with black, making the brown tabbies; gray, marked with darker stripes, giving us the gray tabbies; and silver, marked with black or a sort of dark blue verging on black, from which we have the silver tabbies. The great feature required in tabby cats is that the ground-color should afford as distinct a con trast to the stripes, bars or spots as possible; the colors should be vivid and the marks very plain. There are spotted tabbies, and in these the spots must be round, clear and distinct; but we seldom see a good one of this variety unless it come from India, the home of the best spoted tabbies. The solid-colored cats are the whites, blues, blacks and smokes; although recently the silvers, creams and oranges have in a few instances almost attained perfection in being without marks or foreign color. The tortoise shell cats are black, red and yellow; when ac companied by white, the patches are clearer and distincter, and this feature is what is aimed at. Tortoise-shell males are almost unknown, and orange females are very scarce.
Points of Show The eyes of a cat are an important feature, and should be large, round and pleasant in expression. Although color of eye is a great feature, many judges prefer large, well-placed, pleasant eyes to those that are more correct in color hut badly placed, or are small and mean in expression, or give the cat a sour look. The color of eyes required maybe briefly summed up as blue (as deep as possible) for a white cat; emerald-green for light silver or chinchillas, as they have been called; and yellow to orange, as deep as pos sible, for all other varieties. The color and beauty of the cat's eyes vary according to the state of health, the light and the time of day, and judges have to be careful in this matter. The body-colors can be defined as white, as pure as possible; black, deep and glossy; blue or slate, sound and pure from root to tip of hair, showing no light shadings or light under color; smoke, a deep plum-color, silver under coat, ruff and stomach; cream, light fawn or cream color; orange, whether marked or un marked, should be as rich and strong as pos sible. The tortoise-shells marked with clear distinct patches, clean-cut and free from each other. The fur of the long-haired cats should be fine, long, silky and glossy; wooliness is deprecated, but is more inclined to appear in certain colors, such as orange and cream; and blacks may have a rather coarser texture of coat if they make it up in color. But in whites, silvers, blues, smokes and in brown tabbies there can be no excuse found for anything but exquisite quality.