50 



over, but has the advantage of under holds, 

 and, having strength to strike home and close, 

 seldom fails to win " 



Equally, he disapproves of very small cocks ; 

 holding it almost impossible for a 3-lb. cock to 

 beat one of 5 Ibs. ; the larger bird |' takes him 

 in the rising and commonly nicks him at the 

 first coming in " 



Apropos of the relative merits of large or 

 small cocks the author of The Royal Pastime 

 of Cocking says: ''It is all the mode of late 

 to weigh them." He did not approve of the 

 practice, because the scales paired together 

 cocks of widely different shape ; a small bird 

 might be matched against a tall and thin one, 

 which did not make for a good fight ; and he 

 thought the old method of measuring birds by 

 hand and eye the better one of the two, pro- 

 vided the man who handled the cocks was 

 skilled in his business 



This authority insists upon the necessity for 

 making cocks gentle and fearless in the hand : 

 a bird that has been handled by a clumsy feeder 

 or a rough one never appears to advantage ; 

 he is likely "to skut [scoot] and basely quit 

 the pit, and that more for fear of being handled 

 by the feeder." Any roughness in handling- 

 was condemned as making the birds wild and 



