GENERAL VIEWS. 



33 



their quarrels are frequent, and generally very : 

 bloody. A fight soon follows the provocation. 

 The two adversaries face each other; their 

 feathers are bristled up, the neck stretched out, 

 the head low, the bill ready ; they observe each 

 other in silence, with fixed and sparkling eyes. 

 On the least motion of either they set off to- 

 gether, they stand stiff, rush forward, and dash 

 against each other, and repeat the same ma- 

 no3uvre, till the one that is most adroit, and is 

 the strongest, has torn the comb of his enemy, 

 has thrown him down, by flapping him with his 

 wings, or has stabbed him with his spurs. 



The disposition of cocks for fighting so des- 

 perately, especially when they are not used to 

 live together, and meet for the first time, the 

 courage and obstinacy which they evince in this 

 often dreadful contest, have given Englishmen 

 the idea of exhibiting these cock-fights in public. 

 It is that sort of tragedy they seem to like in 

 preference. The annals of these sights men- 

 tion a very singular sympathy between two 

 cocks. They had successively beaten all the 

 others; they could never be made to fight to- 

 gether, notwithstanding the stimulus of the most 

 hateful passions. 



Mowbray relates the following : " Every one 

 has heard the horrible story of Ardesoif of Tot- 

 tenham, who being disappointed by a famous 

 game-cock refusing to fight, was incited by his 

 savage passion to roast the bird alive, while en- 

 tertaining his friends. The company, alarmed 

 by the dreadful shrieks of the victim, interfered, 

 but were resisted by Ardesoif, who threatened 

 death to any who should oppose him : and in a 

 storm of raging and vindictive delirium, and ut- 

 tering the most horrid imprecations, he dropped 

 down dead. I had hoped to find this among the 

 thousand fanatical lies Avhich have been coined 

 on the insane expectation that truth can be ad- 

 vanced by the propagation of falsehood ; but to 

 my sorrowful disappointment, on a late inquiry 

 among the friends of the deceased miscreant, I 

 found the truth of the horrible story but too 

 probable." 



CHOICE OP THE COCK. 



On the opposite page we introduce a white 

 Dorking as a "model cock" of the domestic 

 C 



fowl. The artist, however, has given him rath- 

 er larger legs than belong to the breed. 



The choice of the cock is a very important 

 thing. It is accounted that he has every requi- 

 site quality, when he is of a pretty good size, 

 when he carries his head high, and has a 

 quick, animated look, a strong and shrill voice, 

 the bill thick and short, the comb of a fine red, 

 and in a manner varnished; a membraneous 

 wattle of a large size, and colored the same r.s 

 the comb, the breast broad, the wings strong, 

 the plumage dark, the thighs muscular, the legs 

 thick, and supplied with long spurs, the claws 

 supplied with nails rather bent, and with a very 

 keen point; when he is free in his motions, 

 crows often, and scratches the earth with con- 

 stancy, in search of worms, not so much for 

 himself as his mates ; when he is brisk, spirited, 

 ardent, and clever in caressing them, quick, in 

 defending them, attentive in soliciting them to 

 eat, in keeping them together in the day, and 

 assembling them at night. 



" The courage of the cock," says Mr. Dixon, 

 " is emblematic ; his gallantry admirable ; his 

 sense of discipline and subordination most ex- 

 emplary. See how a good game-cock of two 

 or three years' experience, will, in five minutes, 

 restore perfect order in an uproarious poultry- 

 yard. He does not use harsh means of coer- 

 cion, when mild will suit the purpose. A look,, 

 a gesture, a deep chuckling growl gives the hint 

 that the turbulence is no longer to be permit- 

 ted ; and if these are not effectual, severe pun- 

 ishment is fearlessly administered. Nor is he 

 aggressive to birds of other species. He allows 

 the turkey to strut before his numerous dames, 

 and the Guinea-fowl to court his single mates 

 uninterrupted; but if the one presumes upon 

 his superior weight, and the other on his cow- 

 ardly tiltings from behind, he soon makes them 

 smart for their rash presumption. His polite- 

 ness to females is as marked as were those of" 

 Lord Chesterfield to old ladies, and much more 

 unaffected. Nor does he merely act the agree- 

 able dangler; when occasion requires, he is also- 

 the brave defender." 



There are some cocks, which, by being too 

 high mettled, are very snappish and quarrelsome. 

 The way to quiet these turbulent ones is plain ; 



