It also sometimes happens that a kitten exhibits quite a light ruff, but this is generally shed with the second coat, and eventually disappears. There are some cats erroneously called blues by novices in the fancy, but which in reality are blue smokes. These have probably been bred from blues and smokes, and thus the type of each is seriously damaged. If it is desired to breed sound-coloured blues, then it is undesirable to cross them with any other colour save and except blacks. I have found good results from mating blues and blacks, more especially with a view to obtaining the deep amber eyes of the black Persians, which, for some reason or other, are generally larger, rounder, and deeper in colour than what we can produce in blues. Certainly all broken breeds and tabbies should be avoided when mating blues. I have heard of white cats being bred with blues to get a pale tint of blue; but white toes, chests, and spots have often been the results of such experiments. I have bred blue Persians ever since I took up the fancy, which is longer ago than I care to remember, and I have found them strong and hardy cats, requiring no special food, and enjoying the best of health without any cosseting or coddling.

I do not consider that blues usually obtain any great size or weight, nor are they generally massive in build or profuse in coat.

Blue And Cream Persians (From a Painting by W. Luker, Jun. )

Ten or fifteen years ago I used to have my blue kittens bespoken for about £5 each before they were born; but nowadays, when blues are so plentiful, one must be content with lower prices, and the average sum for a good blue kitten is three guineas. Still, I am sure that for beginners in the fancy, wishing to combine pleasure and profit, there is no better investment than a good sound blue queen with orange eyes. The demand for blue kittens is really larger than for youngsters of any other breed. They make superb pets, but it is to be regretted that blue neuters are generally spoilt with green eyes, doubtless for the reason that the possession of good orange eyes tempts the owner or purchaser to reserve the specimen for stud or breeding purposes.

As one of the first breeders and exhibitors of blue Persians I feel I am in a position to speak with authority, and I am of opinion that no breed has made such rapid strides, either in improvements or popularity, as blues. In this statement I am supported by our best professional judge, Mr. T. B. Mason, who, writing to me on the subject, says: "I find ten good blues at the present time to one we came across two or three years ago. I am of opinion that in no colour of cats have we seen more distinct progress than we see in blue Persians. " Such a statement, coming from our most able and ubiquitous judge, is a valuable one. Mr. Mason has had a large experience in cat judging during the last few years, and his duties take him north and south, cast and west.

As regards the breeding of blues, I consider that to obtain the true sound colour blues should only be bred to blues.

I have often, however, observed that a kitten of unsound colour is to be found in litters bred from two sound-coloured blues; the kitten may have a white undercoat or be full of white hairs, or have a shaded ruff; but experienced breeders will soon discover that such blemishes are but temporary, and that the ugly duckling of a family may develop into the flower of the flock. It is, therefore, very interesting to make experiments and to keep an apparently worthless specimen to see what it turns in to when the first months of infancy are passed and the kitten coat has been shed.

I have known a young blue of sound colour completely transformed in this particular by a severe illness. Her fur became a sort of pepper-and-salt mixture - a sprinkling of white and dark grey; but this same cat, contrary to the prophecy of an able judge, has again changed her coat, and is now a perfectly sound blue, even from tip to root. It was evident that her illness had affected her coat, and that when she regained her usual health she recovered her correct coat. As regards the eyes in blues, it is not possible to give any exact time for the change in colour from the baby blue to the dreaded green or hoped-for orange. This change takes place gradually, and sometimes the period extends till a kitten is almost a cat. There are many blue cats with what may be called indefinitely coloured eyes; that is, neither orange, nor yellow, nor green. This most unsatisfactory state of things may be generally accounted for by a circle of green round the pupil, which, according to the time of day, will be wide or narrow. Thus it is that cats with this defect are sometimes described with "good yellow eyes, and advertised as such, and then, when received by the purchaser, a glint of green is plainly visible in the inner circle.

The perfect eye in a blue should be absolutely unshaded; and there are two distinct types of eyes, namely, the golden eye and the orange eye. The former resembles a golden coin in tint, and the latter has the dash of red which is to be seen in copper. Both these coloured eyes are correct, and much to be admired in blue Persians, and no doubt as time goes on we shall find it will be the rule and not the exception to see these perfect eyes amongst the blues of the future. It must, however, be borne in mind that in the point of eyes cats throw back, and two parents with good orange eyes may yet produce one or more kittens with pale eyes of yellow or greenish hue. Although I have dilated at length on the superiority of the orange eye in blues, I do not wish it to be thought that a weedy, boneless cat, even with eyes of deepest hue, would find favour in my sight; for in blues, as in all breeds of Persians, what we ought to seek after most earnestly are good massive limbs, plenty of bone, and broad skulls.

There are too many Persian cats of hare-like proportions, and we really want some of the type of a good old English tabby introduced into the more aristocratic long-haired breeds.

The Artist (Photo: Mrs. S. F. Clarke. )

It will be interesting to up-to-date breeders of blues to hear what the veteran cat lover and fancier Harrison Weir had to say about them fifteen years ago. In his well-known book, "Our Cats," he thus alludes to the breed: "Blue in cats is one of the most extraordinary colours of any, for the reason that it is a mixture of black (which is no colour) and white (which is no colour), and this is the more curious because black mated with white generally produces either one colour or the other, or breaks black and white or white and black; the blue being, as it were, a weakened black or a withdrawal by white of some, if not all, of the brown or red, varying in tint according to the colour of the black from which it was bred, dark grey, or from weakness in the stamina of the litter. When once the colour or break from the black is acquired, it is then easy to go on multiplying the different shades and varieties of tint and tone, from the dark blue-black to the very light, almost white grey. If wholecoloured blues are in request, then parti-colours, such as white and black, or black and white, are best excluded."

Many of our leading cat fanciers "go in" exclusively for blues, and keep faithful to this one breed alone. I give a list of these, and trust I may be pardoned if I have left out the name of any enthusiastic breeder and lover of blues and blues alone: Mrs. Hill, Mrs. Wells, Mrs. P. Hardy, Mrs. H. Ransome, Mrs. Bennet, Mrs. Mocatta, Mrs. S. F. Clarke (Louth), Mrs. Cartwright, Mrs. Gregory (Lincoln), Mrs. H. B. Thompson, Mrs. O'Brien Clarke, Miss Jay, Miss Bennet, Miss Messer, Miss Patterson, Miss Goddard, Rev. P. L. Cosway, Mrs. Swanson, Mrs. Curwen, Mrs. Duffin, Mrs. W. M. Hunt, Mrs. Slingsby, Mrs. Singleton, Miss Savery, Mrs. Eustace, Mrs. Hitchcock, Miss Hooper, Miss Violet Hunt, Miss Humfrey, Mrs. Kennaway, Mr. H. Maxwell, Mrs. Ponder, Miss Rigby, and Mr. C. W. Witt.

Blue Kittens Bred By Miss Kirkpatrick (Photo: E. Landor, Ealing. )

There are, of course, a large number of fanciers who, amongst other breeds of cats, keep one or two blues, and several keep blues and silvers only. I think I may safely say that blue Persians have the largest number of admirers, and certain it is that at all our large shows the blue classes are the best filled. At the Cat Club Show held at Westminster in 1899 the number of entrie3 in the blue female class was a record one - there were no less than 48, and the blue males mustered 42.

Seeing, therefore, how popular this breed had become, in April, 1901, I founded and started the Blue Persian Cat Society, a book of rules was drawn up, and the following ladies and gentlemen appointed as officials of the society