taken from Harrison Weirs' Book Our Cats
and All about them - Their Varieties, Habits, and Management; and for Show, the Standad of
Excellence and Beauty, published by R. Clements and Company, Mount Pleasant,
1889
ABYSSINIAN
Head (10 Points)
Small, broad across the eyes, rather long than short, nose
medium length, all well-formed
Eyes (15 Points)
Orange-yellow, slightly tinged with green, large, round,
full, and bright.
Nose and Feet (10 Points)
Nose dark red, edged with black; tips and cushions of feet
black, also the back of the hind-legs.
Fur (15 Points)
Soft, rather woolly hair, yet soft, silky, lustrous, and
glossy, short, smooth, even, and dense.
Ears (10 Points)
The usual size of the ordinary English cat, but a little
more rounded, with not much hair in the interior, black at the apex.
Colour (20 Points)
A rich, dun brown, ticked with black and orange, or darker
on lighter colours, having a dark or black line along the back extending to the end of the
tail, and slightly annulated with black or dark colour. As few other marks as possible.
Inside of fore-legs and belly to be orange-brown. No white.
Size and Condition (10 Points)
Large; coat glossy and smooth, fitting close to the body;
eyes bright and clear.
Carriage and Appearance (10 Points)
Graceful, lith, elegant, alert and quick in all its
movements, head carried up, tail trailing, in walk undulating.
N.B. - The Abyssinian Silver Gray, or Chinchilla, is the
same in all points, with the exception of the gound color being silver instead of
brown. This is a new and beautiful variety.
Harrison Weir writes the following about
Abyssinian cats:
I now come to the last variety of the tabby cat, and this
can scarcely be called a tabby proper, as it is nearly destitute of markings, excepting
sometimes on the legs and a broad black band along the back. It is mostly of a deep brown,
ticked with black, somewhat resembling the back of a wild (only not so gray) rabbit. Along
the centre of the back, from the nape of the neck to the tip of the tail, there is a band
of black, very slightly interspersed with dark brown hairs. The inner sides of the legs
and belly are more of a rufous-orange tint than the body, and are marked in some cases
with a few dark patches; but they are best without these marks, and in the exhibition pens
it is a point lost. The eyes are deep yellow, tinted with green; nose dark red,
black-edged; ears rather small, dark brown, with black edges and tips; the pads of the
feet are black. Altogether, it is a pretty and interesting variety. It has been shown
under a variety of names, such as Russian, Spanish, Abyssinian, Hare cat, Rabbit cat, and
some have gone so far as to maintain that it is a cross between the latter and a cat,
proving very unmistakably there is nothing, however absurd or impossible, in animal or
everyday life, that some people are not ready to credit and believe. A hybrid between the
English wild cat and the domestic much resembles it; and I do not consider it different in
any way, with the exception of its colour, from the ordinary tabby cat, from which I have
seen kittens and adults bearing almost the same appearance. Some years ago when out
rabbit-shooting on the South Downs, not far from Eastbourne, one of our party shot a cat
of this colour in a copse not far from the village of Eastdean. He mistook it at first for
a rabbit as it dashed into the underwood. It proved not to be wild, but belonged to one of
the villagers, and was bred in the village. When the ground colour is light gray or blue,
it is generally called chinchilla, to the fur of which animal the coat has a general
resemblance. I have but little inclination to place it as a distinct, though often it is
of foreign breed; such may be, though ours is merely a variety - and a very interesting
one - of the ordinary tabby, with which its form, habits, temper, etc. seem fully to
correspond; still several have been imported from Abyssinia all of which were precisely
similar, and it is stated that this is the origin of the Egyptian cat that was worshipped
so many centuries ago. The mummies of the cats I have seen in no case had any hair left,
so that it was impossible to determine what colour they were. The imported cats are of
stouter build than the English and less marked. These bred with an English tabby often
give a result of nearly black, the back band extending very much down the sides, and the
brown ticks almost disappearing, producing a rich and beautiful colouring. I find there is yet another tint or colour of the tabby
proper which I have not mentioned, that is to say, a cat marked with light wavy lines, and
an exceedingly pretty one it is. It is very rare; in fact, so much so that it has never
had a class appropriated to it, and therefore is only admissible to or likely to win in
the class "For Any Other Colour", in which class usually a number of very
beautiful varieties are to be found, some of which I shall have occasion to notice further
on. The colour, however, that I now refer to is often called the silver tabby, for want of
a better name. It is this. The whole of the ground colour is of a most delicate
silver-gray, clear and firm in tone, slightly blue if anything apart from the gray, and
the markings thereon are but a little darker, with a tinge of lilac in them, making the
fur to look like an evening sky, rayed with light clouds. The eyes are orange-yellow, and
when large and full make a fine contrast to the colour of the fur. The nose is red, edged
with a lilac tint, and the pads of the feet and claws are black, or nearly so. The
hair is generally very fine, short, and soft. Altogether it is most lovely, and well
worthy of attention, forming, as it does, a beautiful contrast to the red, the yellow, or
even the brown tabby. A turquoise ribbon about its neck will show to great advantage the
delicate lilac tints of its coat, or, if a contrast is preferred, a light orange scarlet,
or what is often called geranium colour, will perhaps give a brighter and more pleasing
effect.
This is by no means so uncommon a colour in the longhaired
cats, some of which are exquisite, and are certainly the acme of beauty in the way of cat
colouring; but I must here remark that there is a vast difference in the way of
disposition between these two light varieties, that of the former being far more gentle.
In fact, I am of opinion that the short haired cat in general is of a more genial
temperament, more "cossetty", more observant, more quick in adapting itself to
surroundings and circumstances than its long-haired brother, and, as a rule it is also
more cleanly in its habit. Though at the same time I am willing to admit that some of
these peculiarities being set aside, the long-haired cat is charmingly beautiful, and at
the same time has a large degree of intelligence - in fact, not even setting aside the
dog, and I have come to this conclusion after much long, careful, and mature
consideration.
If you read further on in Weirs' book
where he writes about matings and possible combinations you may find an explanation for
the different types (color and hair length varieties) of Abyssinians seen yesterday as
well as of today:
To breed these (Abyssinians) true, it is well to procure
imported or pedigree stock, for many cats are bred in England from ordinary tabbies, that
so nearly resemble Abyssinian in colour as scarcely to be distinguished from the
much-prized foreigners. The males are generally of a darker colour than the females, and
are mostly marked with dark-bown band on the forehead, a black band along the back which
end at the tip of the tail, with which it is annulated. The ticking should be of the
truest kind, each hair being of three distinct colours, blue yellow or red, and black at
the points, the cushion of the feet black, and back of the hind-legs. Choose a female,
with either more red or yellow, the markings being the same, and, with care in the
selection, there will be some very brilliant specimens. Eyes bright orange-yellow.
Curiously coloured as the Abyssinian cat is, and being a
true breed, no doubt of long far back ancestry, it is most useful in crossing with other
varieties, even with the Persian, Russian, Angora, or the Archangel, the ticking hues
being easy of transmission, and is then capable of charming and delightful tints, with
breadths of beautiful mottled or grizzled colouring, if judiciously mated. The light tabby
Persian, matched with a female Abyssinian, would give unexpected surprises, so with the
dark blue Archangel; a well-ticked blue would not only be a novelty, but an elegant colour
hitherto unseen. A deep red tabby might result in a whole colour, bright red, or a yellow
tint. I have seen a cat nearly black ticked with white, which had yellow eyes. It was
truly a splendid and very beautiful animal, of a most recherché colour. Matched with a
silver-gray tabby, a silver-gray tick is generally the sequence. A yellow-white will
possibly prove excellent. Try it!
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