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The Blue Cat


This is shown often under a number of names. It was at first shown as

the Archangel cat, then Russian blue, Spanish blue, Chartreuse blue,

and, lastly, and I know not why, the American blue. It is not, in my

belief, a distinct breed, but merely a light-coloured form of the black

cat. In fact, I have ascertained that one shown at the Crystal Palace,

and which won many prizes on account of its beautiful blue colour

sligh
ly tinged with purple, was the offspring of a tabby and white

she-cat and a black-and-white he-cat, and I have seen the same colour

occur when bred from the cats usually kept about a farmhouse as a

protection from rats and mice, though none of the parents had any blue

colour.



Being so beautiful, and as it is possible in some places abroad it may

be bred in numbers, I deemed it advisable, when making out the prize

schedule, to give special prizes for this colour; the fur being used for

various purposes on account of its hue. A fine specimen should be even

in colour, of a bluish-lilac tint, with no sootiness or black, and

though light be firm and rich in tone, the nose and pads dark, and the

eyes orange-yellow. If of a very light blue-gray, the nose and pads may

be of a deep chocolate colour and the eyes deep yellow, not green. If it

is a foreign variety, I can only say that I see no distinction in form,

temper, or habit; and, as I have before mentioned, it is sometimes bred

here in England from cats bearing no resemblance to the bluish-lilac

colour, nor of foreign extraction or pedigree. I feel bound, however, to

admit that those that came from Archangel were of a deeper, purer tint

than the English cross-breeds; and on reference to my notes, I find they

had larger ears and eyes, and were larger and longer in the head and

legs, also the coat or fur was excessively short, rather inclined to

woolliness, but bright and glossy, the hair inside the ears being

shorter than is usual in the English cat.



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