GAME FOWL. 39 



to beak point, until they dashed up into one tremendous flirt, 

 mingling their powerful, rustling wings, and nervous heels, in 

 one furious, confused mass. The leap, the fire, the passion of 

 strength, the certaminis gaudia, were fierce and loud : the parting 

 was another kind of thing, every way. I can compare the sound 

 of the first flight to nothing less than that of a wet umbrella 

 forced suddenly open. The separation was death-like : the yellow, 

 or rather the ginger bird, staggered out of the close, drooping, 

 dismantled, bleeding : he was struck. 



Fleming and Nash severally took their birds, examined them 

 for a moment, and then set them again opposite to each other. 

 The handling of the cocks was as delicate as if they had been 

 made of foam, froth, or any other most perishable matter. Flem- 

 ing's bird staggered towards his opponent, but he was hit dread- 

 fully, and ran like a drunken man tottering on his breast, sink- 

 ing back on his tail while Nash's, full of fire andirritated courage, 

 gave the finishing stroke, that clove every particle of life in twain. 

 The brave bird thus killed, dropped at once from the "gallant 

 bearing, and proud mien," to the relaxed, draggled, motionless 

 object that lay in bleeding ruin on the mat. I sighed and looked 

 thoughtful, when the tumult of the betters startled me into a 

 consciousness of the scene at which I was present. 



The victor cock was carried by me in all his pride, slightly 

 scarred, but evidently made doubly fierce and muscular, by the 

 short encounter he had been engaged in. He seemed to have 

 grown double the size: his eyes were larger. 



The paying backward and forward of money, won and lost, 

 occupied the time until the two Nashes again descended with 

 another cock. 



Sometimes the first blow was fatal, at another time the contest 

 was long and doubtful, and the cocks showed all the obstinate 

 courage, weariness, distress, and breathlessness which marks the 

 struggle of experienced pugilists. I saw the beak open, the tongue 

 palpitate, the wing drag on the mat : I noticed the legs tremble, 

 and the body topple over upon the breast ; the eye grow dim, 

 and even a perspiration break out upon the feathers of the back. 

 When the battle lasted long, and the cocks lay helpless near or 

 upon each other, one of the feeders counted ten and the birds 

 were separated and set-to at the chalk. If the beaten bird does 

 not fight while forty is counted, and the other pecks or shows 

 signs of battle, the former is declared conquered. 



The cocks were the next object of curiosity. A covering was 

 hung before each pen, so that I heard rather than saw the cocks; 



