THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



the entire system throughout, and the wonderful phenomena 

 that occur in breeding and training these birds. We will 

 commence with the breeding, and the importance of similarity 

 of feather. Where is the philosopher who can discover this 

 necessity ? — but so it is. Several attempts were made some 

 years back to cross the Cheshire piles with piles from other 

 countries, and those of great note; but, from a trifling dis- 

 similarity of feather, the breed was very inferior to the original 

 one. But even in the Cheshire piles, the necessity arises of 

 not mixing the dark and light-coloured ones together. Then 

 ao-ain, the fidelity with which uniformity of colour is pre- 

 served is no less astounding. A celebrated breeder of cocks 

 thus writes on this subject : — " Fifteen years or more I had 

 enjoyed an invariable production of the most complete black- 

 reds bred by an amateur, without a single instance of devia- 

 tion during that period ; but, on the sixteenth year, I had 

 several light piles in one hatch. No change of eggs could 

 possibly have taken place, nor was there a shadow of doubt 

 of interference with any other cock. A well-regulated account 

 of my cocks, however, enabled me to ascertain that there had 

 been a pile in the cross five years previous to my having 

 them from Shropshire ; so that tJtey held highly regular for 

 twenty-one years, not only in plumage, but in every desired 

 requisite." 



'It appears/ continued Hargrave, 'that, had this breeder 

 gone on in a deviation from the original colour, he would have 

 had spangles, as party-coloured fowls are called ; but, by per- 

 severing afterwards in selecting the darkest-coloured fowls, 

 those in fact most resembling his original attachment, or sort, 

 he preserved not only their feather, but their constitution, 

 which is a great consideration with cockers. Now here we 

 have an analogy between the florist and the cocker. A run 

 flower is one which has the inherent vice of changing colour, 

 with little chance of regaining its primitive and valuable 

 brilliancy ; consequently it is discarded by the florist, as 

 spangled pullets would be by the cocker. 



' There are, also, independent of feather, some strange cir- 

 cumstances ai-ising from the selection of the parentage of game 

 fowls, and these of the very same breed, one, in fact, which has 

 been proved to be good in blood, feather, and heel. For ex- 

 ample : cocks bred from a father and daughter have run away, 



96 



