Blacks have become very popular in this country, and many really good specimens are seen in the show pen to-day.

Blacks are very fascinating when they are true to type. A cat coal-black, with large, luminous orange or golden eyes, is very attractive, but their looks depend much on a round head and brilliant eye-colouring; without these they are of little use for showing. In colour they should be very dense black from root to tip of the hair, and from nose to tail. The colour, if perfect, is the most difficult point to obtain and also to keep. By the latter I mean that that colour is easily spoilt by exposure to sun or rain, also by ill-health. A black, to remain black, must be properly fed and conditioned, for, when poorly fed, the hair loses its brilliancy from want of natural oil, and any exposure to the weather makes it look dull and turn reddish brown. All this can be remedied by good care and feeding, but unsoundness or shading light can only be bred out, and is usually caused by a blue, smoke or silver cross. This should be considered the worst fault by all judges.

By unsoundness, I mean a smoky appearance at the roots of the hair; around the frill and underneath the body is where it is most frequently found. In choosing a good specimen of this variety, the hair should be carefully parted in all parts, to see if there is any unsoundness of colour, and this, with the blues, is most apparent when the cat is in full coat, as when in half coat the cat may appear perfectly sound, whereas when another inch of hair grows it may be smoky in colour.

White spots are, of course, a great blemish, and would place an otherwise good cat low down in the prize list; but for breeding, such cats are sometimes useful, as these spots do not often appear in the progeny, though to breed from a cat without such blemish is far better.

In all other respects the black should resemble any other typical Persian. The eyes should be golden or orange. Blacks may be mated to orange, brown tabbies, or even to a tortoise-shell; this does not seem to deteriorate the colour; and, of course, blacks to blacks. Blue is an ideal cross for a bad-coloured black.