85 



As the cocks in a main were pitted according' 

 to weight, the lightest fighting first and the 

 heaviest last, there was time to feed up the 

 larger and heavier birds between weighing clay 

 and the day they were to fight. As said on a 

 former page, the cock might be feel as the owner 

 pleased after the bird had been weighed, and 

 the licence thus allowed gave scope for the 

 exercise of the feeder's art 



Some skill was required to "heel " the cock 

 properly ; if the spurs were fastened too tightly 

 the bird's perfect freedom of movement would 

 be affected ; if too loosely, the spurs might be 

 displaced or broken at the critical moment. 

 The aim was to place the spur exactly in the 

 line of the natural weapon, which had been 

 clipped 



The " General Rules and Orders for 

 Cocking " in force at this time will be found in 

 Appendix B 



" SUBSCRIPTION " MAINS 



There appears to have been what would now 

 be called a "boom " in London cocking, about 

 1790-1800. Mr. Ralph Nevill, in his recent 

 book * on gaming, states that more subscription 

 mains were fought at the Royal cock -pit in 



Light Come, Light go. (1907) 



