IOI 



fashion in which the old rules were sometimes 

 evaded ; as said on an earlier page, the usual 

 system was to fight matches in silver spurs ; 

 the lot 77 consisted of steel spurs with silver 

 sheaths, which were slipped off by the setter-to 

 at the last moment. A spur with one cutting 

 edge was probably a relic of Queen Anne's 

 time, when "penknife" spurs were sometimes 

 used. Some forty pairs of spurs were disposed 

 of at this sale, bringing an aggregate of jo 



Spurs, it may be observed, were highly 

 valued in old days. Sets of spurs remained in 

 the same family for generations, bequeathed by 

 will from father to son 



Game-fowls are bred in great numbers all 

 over England, and the practice of putting the 

 birds out at walks probably still exists. Sir 

 Humphrey de Trafford used to insert in leases 

 the clause requiring tenants to walk game-cocks, 

 and the walks were stocked so lately as 1895 



SUPERSTITIONS OF THE COCK-PIT 



Many and curious were the superstitions 

 which pervaded the cock-pit. The practice of 

 placing game-fowls' eggs in a magpie's nest to 

 be hatched out is very old ; it seems to have 

 had origin in the superstition which placed the 



