CH. XXXVI. LEADENHALL MARKET. 265 



against the grain." Singing -birds, hawks, cats 

 with brass collars and chains, ready got up for 

 tabby -loving spinsters, Blenheim spaniels, and 

 wicked-looking bull-dogs, pigeons, bantams, gold- 

 fish, in short every kind of bird or beast that was 

 ever yet made a pet of is here to be bought, sold, 

 and exchanged, and frequently the collector may 

 obtain very rare and valuable specimens. Holland 

 and Belgium supply great quantities of wild-fowl, 

 canaries, carrier pigeons, etc.; and on a busy day 

 the traffic in this division of Leadenhall Market is 

 a most amusing sight. 



One thing which especially surprises the visitor 

 to this market is the total defiance of the game 

 laws which all the dealers indulge in. There is 

 scarcely a description of game which cannot be 

 bought here at any season, legal or illegal ; and it 

 is difficult to understand how game laws and their 

 penalties can be so openly and systematically in- 

 fringed. Pheasants and pheasants' eggs, grouse 

 and grouse eggs, etc. etc., are undisguisedly and 

 unblushingly sold at all seasons, in defiance of 

 informers and magistrates. On asking how it 

 happens that the dealers can supply game of all 

 sorts at all seasons, you are gravely told "that it is 

 all foreign game.!' Scotch grouse are called Nor- 

 wegian grouse, and good English partridges and 



