but it recalls Mons. de Saussure's statement, 

 given on page 61, that game-cocks lose their 

 courage when exported to France 



Sketchley lays stress on the necessity for 

 trying cocks, as opposed to the trials of stags 

 advocated by earlier authorities. A trial of 

 stags (as recommended in Rees's Cyclopedia) 

 was not in his opinion to be depended on to 

 show how the youngsters would turn out. He 

 objected to March battles, as the birds had not 

 at that time of the year reached their best ; he 

 adds that birds are "now (1814) at least two 

 months later in completing their feather than 

 they were thirty years ago," and the ist of 

 June was early enough to pit cocks in 

 independent mains 



1 here are some interesting suggestions also, 

 in a small book entitled il Directions for 

 Breeding Game Cocks including instructions 

 for the choice of a Cock and Hens to breed 

 from ; with calculations for Betting, &c., &c.," 

 the second edition of which was published in 

 1818. I have not been able to discover when 

 the book was first published 



Search among old records fails to reveal any 

 particulars of the main fought at Lincoln in 

 1815, for which Joseph Gilliver "fed" the 

 birds of one cocker. This main consisted of 



