THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



' But the game they hunt, what did he say of it ? ' continued 

 Hargrave. 



' Well, to be sure,' replied Jem, ' he said it must be anything 

 but comfortable when the dogs are pursuing it, but its fate is 

 soon settled, and there is no dying of wounds, as there is from 

 shooting and fishing.' 



' But the very fact of the game-cock being the noble animal 

 he is,' said Lord Edmonston, ' is the reason why lie should be 

 restrained from lighting without a natural cause. 



' Man may be considered as the delegate of Heaven over 

 inferior creatures, but he has no right to torment them un- 

 necessarily. Then observe the character of the cock, as he 

 claps his wrings before he crows ; how proud, how courageous 

 is his appearance ! The very lion himself is said to fear him 

 At all events, his graceful attitude and carriage, together 

 with his high-beaming eye, rank him in the highest class of 

 birds.' 



' All very true,' said Hargrave ; ' but without defending 

 cock-fighting, wall you show me the man who can account for 

 that early instinct which impresses young animals with the 

 notion of the situation and use of their natural weapons, and 

 of e\en using them before they are properly formed, and at the 

 same time can say, that the display of this iuvstinct was not 

 given them for some good purpose ? I can only observe that 

 the science of cock-fighting, if I may be allowed to call it so, is 

 one of the most difficult, if not the most extraordinary of any 

 connected with the animal system. Training the race-horse 

 is A B C to it. Fancy an experienced feeder being able to 

 discern to a nicety to what extent cocks of one particular breed 

 will bear reducing in weight, and w^hat those of another. Then 

 one man shall make his cocks fight for three consecutive days 

 with equal strength and spirit, whereas his competitor cannot 

 keep his up to the mark beyond the second day. He wnll be 

 at the height of condition one day, and retrograde rapidly the 

 next. Again, wdiat a strange phenomenon is this : — cocks, of 

 the same blood, bred from a father and daughter, will run 

 away, whilst those from a mother and son will stay to be killed 

 piecemeal, and vice versa I Lastly, their colour ; how true to 

 their feather are they preserved by the most eminent breeders 

 — without the slightest deviation, indeed, for a great number 

 of generations ! There is a well-attested instance of this on 



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