36 GAME FOWL. 



short and compact, with a round breast (as a sharp-breasted cock 

 carries a great deal of useless weight about him, and never has a 

 fine forehand) ; his thighs fine and thick, and placed well up to 

 the shoulder (for where a cock's legs hang dangling behind him, 

 be assured he never can' maintain a long battle) ; his legs long 

 and thick, and if they correspond with the colour of his beak 

 blue, gray, or yellow I think it a perfection ; his feet should be 

 broad and thin, with very long claws. With regard to his carriage, 

 he should be upright, but not stiffly so; his walk should be 

 stately, with his wings in some measure extended, and not plod 

 along, as I have seen some cocks do, with their wings upon their 

 backs, like geese ; his colour rather gray, yellow, or rose, with 

 black breast ; his spurs rough, long, and looking inward. As to 

 the colour he is of, it is immaterial ; there are good cocks of all 

 colours ; but he should be thin of feathers, short, and very hard, 

 which is another proof of his being healthy. Remember that a 

 cock, with all his stoutness, length, and thickness of leg, ro- 

 tundity of breast, " fine forehand," firmness of neck, and extent 

 of wing, ought not to weigh more than 4 Ib. 8 or 10 oz. ; if he 

 happen to have an ounce or two more in his composition, he is 

 out of the pale of the pit, and is excluded by all match-makers, 

 from "fighting within the article's." A bird, to be a bird, "fit 

 for the white bag, the trimmed wing, the mat, and the silver 

 spur," must be light upon the leg, light fleshed, and large boned, 

 but still no more than 4 Ib. 8 or 10 oz. 



A cock-pit was a large, lofty, circular building, with seats 

 rising, as in an amphitheatre ; in the middle of it was a round, 

 matted stage, of about 18 or 20 feet in diameter, and rimmed 

 with an edge, eight or ten inches in height, to keep the cocks from 

 falling over in their combats ; there was a chalk ring in the cen- 

 tre of the matted stage, of, perhaps, a yard diameter ; and another 

 chalk mark within it, much smaller, which was intended for the 

 setting to, when the shattered birds were so enfeebled as to have 

 no power of making hostile advances towards each other. This 

 inner mark, admitted of their being placed beak to beak. A 

 large and rude branched candlestick was suspended low down, 

 immediately over the mat, which was used at the night-battles. 

 The birds were weighed and matched, and then marked and 

 numbered ; the descriptions were carefully set down, in order 

 that the cock should not be changed ; the lightest cocks fought 

 first in order. The key of the pens, in which the cocks were 

 set and numbered, was left on the weighing-table ; or the op- 

 posite party might, if he pleased, put a lock on the door. The 



