THE GAME FOWL. 219 



above his head, examined his beak, his wings, his legs, while 

 a person read to him the description of the bird from paper ; 

 and upon finding all correct, he delivered the rich, feathered 

 warrior back to Nash, and proceeded to produce his own bird 

 for a similar examination. 



But I must speak of the senior Nash the old man, the 

 feeder. When again may I have an opportunity of describing 

 him ? and what ought a paper upon cocking be accounted worth, 

 if it fail to contain some sketch, however slight, of old Nash ? 

 He wore a smock-frock, and was clumsily, though potently 

 built, his shoulders being ample, and of a rotundity resembling 

 a wool-pack ; his legs were not equal to his bulk ; he was un- 

 conversational, almost to a fault, and never made even the 

 slightest remark that did not appertain to Cocks or cocking ; 

 his narrow, damp, colourless eye, twinkled a cold satisfaction 

 when a bird of promise made good work on the mat, and some- 

 times, though seldom, he was elevated into the proffer of a 

 moderate bet; but generally he leaned over the rails of a small 

 gallery, running parallel with the coop, and, stooping attentively 

 towards the pit, watched the progress of the battle. I re- 

 marked he was extremely like a Cock old Nash's beaked 

 nose, drawn close down, over his mouth ; his red forehead and 

 gills ; his round body ; and blue, thin legs ; and his silver- 

 gray, scanty, feathery hair, lying like a plume over his head, 

 all proved him Cock-like. This man, thought I, has been 

 cooped up in pens, or penned up in coops, until he has become 

 shaped, coloured, mannered like the bird he has been feeding. 

 I should scarcely have been surprised, if told, that old Nash 

 crowed when the light first dawned of a summer's morning. 

 I warrant he pecked bread and milk to some tune, and, per- 

 haps, slept upon a perch ! But Fleming lifted his bird from 

 the bag, and my whole mind was directed his way : this was a 

 yellow-bodied, black-winged, handsome Cock, seemingly rather 

 slight, but elastic and muscular ; he was restless at the sight 



