The Tabby is one of the commonest of colors, and is found in many breeds of the cat; and still a very well-marked Tabby is comparatively rare. The Tabbies are divided into the Banded Tabbies and the Spotted Tabbies. The name of "Tabby" is derived from "Atab" - a street in Bagdad celebrated for the manufacture of its watered or moire silks, which when sold in England were called "atabi" or "taffety"; and from the similarity of the stripes of the banded and the brindle cats, the latter were called "Tabby." Weir says that in the south of England (Norfolk and Suffolk) the Tabby is called a Cyprus Cat; and he found in Bailey's Dictionary (1730 a.d.) that "Cyprus" was a kind of cloth made of silk and hair, showing wavy lines on it, and coming from Cyprus. Evidently, therefore, the "Taffeta" or "Tabby" indicates the striping, and not the color.

The Tabby presents numerous varieties in color and shade, but may be divided into four general classes:

1. The Brown Tabby.

2. The Spotted Tabby.

3. The Blue or Silver Tabby.

4. The Red Tabby.

The Brown Tabby

The Brown Tabby has a ground color of a rich, reddish dark brown, with no white, and even, regular bars and bands of solid, shining black over the face, head, breast, sides, back, belly, legs, and tail. The face, legs, breast, and belly should have more of a rich red orange tint than the back. The bands should be graceful in curve, distinct, and clearly defined, so that there is a perfect demarcation in the line between the black and the brown, and not mixed and blurred. The Banded Tabby should not be spotted in any way, beyond a few spots which almost always occur on the face and sometimes on the forelegs. "The clearer, redder, and brighter the brown the better."

Fig. 13. - A Well-marked Tabby.

Fig. 14. - Badly Marked Tabby (Bands too Broad).

Head

Not too large; not too wide; rather longer than broad.

Nose

Deep red, bordered with black.

Eyes

Orange, slightly greenish in shade.

Ears

Medium.

Legs

Rather long, for grace of action.

Body

Long and narrow, with deep chest.

Tail

Long and tapering.

Feet

Black; black pads and claws, yellowish white around.

Black lips and brown whiskers are allowable, but orange-tinted are far preferable, and pure white should disqualify.

A Brown Tabby should be orange-brown. The dark brownish-gray Tabbies are simply ordinary Tabbies.

The Spotted Tabby

The Spotted Tabby may have any base color which is common to the cat. This base color may be brown, red, or yellow; but whichever color it is, it must be spotted with black. There should be no bands whatever, for when these exist it makes a poorly marked Banded Tabby. What were lines in the Banded Tabby should be interrupted regularly, leaving black spots, which in a well-marked Spotted Tabby appear in lines, straight, or with graceful curves in the neighborhood of the neck and shoulders, but always interrupted into spots. The spots should be medium in size, and the better and more distinctly defined they are the better the Tabby. If spots exist on the face they are especially valuable. There should be no white. The general conformation given for the Banded Tabbies applies to the Spotted Tabby; but the nose should be dark red, and the eyes a yellow-orange; the less greenish the better.

Fig. 15. - A Spotted Tabby.

In the Brown Spotted Tabby the pads of the feet are always black, and in the Yellow or Red Spotted Tabby they may be pink. (The spots should not be annulated.) The Spotted Tabby is usually a very large cat, a great mouser and hunter, a brave animal, well capable of taking care of itself against other cats and dogs, and approaches in its general characteristics in many ways to the Wildcat.

The Blue Or Silver Tabby

Head

Its head is small and broad, with a long, sharp nose.

Eyes

The eyes are orange for the Blue

Tabby, yellow for the Silver Tabby, and for both should be large, piercingly bright, and lustrous.

Fig. 16. - A Good Silver Tabby.

Ears

The ears are medium or somewhat longish.

Form

In form these cats have long, narrow, graceful bodies, with long neck and excessively graceful general contour.

Tail

The tail is long, thick at the base, curves upward, and should have rings.

Coat - Color And Quality

The hair should be short, even, smooth, and silky. The base color should be a distinct blue or a silver-gray striped with black. In the Blue the color should be a rich, deep, bright blue; in the Silver very much lighter, but of a very bright color. The black bands should be jet-black, and narrow, clear, and sharply defined. The cushions of the feet are always black. The Blue or Silver Tabby is usually a much smaller animal than the Brown Tabby.

The Red Tabby

Head

The head is smallish, with the nose long and tapering.

Eyes

The eyes may be orange-colored or yellow in color, but should be deep-set, full, round, and lustrous. A beautiful rich yellow is perhaps the preferable eye.

Ears

The ears are medium in length.

Form

The form should be long, narrow, and graceful, like the Silver Tabby, and, like it, it should have a long tail, thick at the base, curved upward, and surrounded with rings.

Coat - Color And Quality

This cat should have short, even, smooth silky hairs like the Blue Tabby. The color should be of a deep, rich, reddish brown, bright red, or yellow. The belly and inside of the legs are of a brighter color; the ears and the nose of a deeper color. The bands are formed of a much darker red, which, however, should be as distinct from the lighter base color of the animal as possible; and the rings should be especially well marked around the throat and chest. The Red Tabby should have no white whatever. In size it corresponds much to the Brown Tabby.

This cat is an important factor in breeding Tortoise-shells. In fact, many of the male kittens in the litter of a Tortoise-shell are Red Tabbies, while the females are Tortoise-shells.

They are good-natured domestic cats, great mousers, and hunters for birds, as they climb well; and they are also expert fishers.