102 



magpie under the special protection of the Evil 

 One ; game-cocks thus hatched were called 

 "devil's birds'' and regarded as unconquerable 



The use of a magpie's nest for this purpose 

 was common, but by no means always indicated 

 the user's belief in supernatural advantages. 

 There is in the Annals of Sporting for 1824, 

 mention of a Welsh main, in which sixteen birds 

 were engaged, won by a cock that had been 

 hatched out in the nest of a magpie in the 

 owner's orchard 



This win gave rise to discussion concerning 



O c~> 



the merits of magpie-hatched game-fowl. An 

 old feeder of the Cock-pit Royal, Westminster, 

 maintained that cocks so hatched were impudent 

 and foolhardy and more inclined to fight at the 

 setter's hand than to attack the foe in the pit. 

 Some experts thought birds hatched by a magpie 

 were particularly strong and courageous; others 

 that they were wild and shy grave faults in a 

 fighting-cock 



Returning to superstitions : Another very 

 strange idea * held in Shropshire was that 

 bread which had been consecrated for the Holy 

 Communion would give unrivalled strength and 

 stamina to the cock that ate it : and to obtain 

 possession, cockers would attend at the altar 



* Shropshire Folklore. By Georgina F. Jackson. (1883) 



