Other authorities state that tabby cats got their
name from Atab, a street in Bagdad; but as this street was famous for
its watered silks perhaps the same reason holds. The tortoise-shell used
to be called, in England, the Calimanco. In America, it is sometimes
called the calico cat.
The red tabby is of a deep reddish or yellow brown, with a well-ringed
tail, orange or yellow eyes, and pink cushions to the feet. The brown
tabby is orange brown, with black lips, brown whiskers, black feet,
black pads, long tail, greenish orange eyes, and red nose bordered with
black. The spotted tabby must have no bands at all. It must be brown,
red, or yellow, with black spots. In the brown tabby the feet and pads
are black; in the yellow and red, the feet and pads are pink. The
spotted cat sometimes resembles a leopard, while the banded tabby
resembles more the tiger. Some of the spotted tabbies are extremely
handsome, and came originally from a cross between the ordinary cat and
the wild cat.
"Self-colored cats" are entirely of one color, which may vary in
different cats, but must never be mixed in the same cat, nor even shaded
into a lighter tone on the animal; and whether this color be black,
blue, red, or yellow, the self-colored cat should have a rich deep tint.
Of course the short-haired white cat is the handsomest of all. One of
the peculiarities of this white cat is that it is apt to be deaf. The
most valuable white cats, whether long or short haired, have blue eyes.
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