80 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [February, 1910. 



cockerel, and shampoo him. In the evening see whether the 

 cock has digested its food. If it has, then in the evening too 

 give it halwa, etc., as before. If, however, the cock has not 

 digested its morning meal, give it a few whole pepper- corns : the 

 cocker had, too, better continue to give it pepper-corns in the 

 evening, and keep it awake by lamp-light for an hour, tickling 

 it under the pope's nose to make it oil itself. l Then setting it 

 down on a swing made out of a child's cot 2 swing it for 

 an hour, or else place it on a perch. 3 Then confine it some- 

 where in a safe place, in a basket-cage. In the morning at 

 prayer time,* take it out of the coop, 6 give it water to drink, 

 and then spout it, and, putting on the muzzle, let it exercise 6 

 itself for a full hour. After this feed it. You must gradually 

 increase the amount of halwa and decrease the amount of flour, 

 feeding and treating the bird as already described for forty 

 days. Once a week too, at night, you must foment it with a 

 damp, hot, pad, fomenting those parts of the body that have 

 accumulated fat. The places to foment are, first from the 

 head to the neck or rather to the shoulders, next the two 

 wings on the top, next the thighs inside and outside, also the 

 hip joints and the loins, and underneath between the legs, 

 omitting the lower gut or the stomach near the anus, and also 

 the breast. The object of fomenting is to make flesh and 

 joints hard and strong. 



When the cockerel is ten months old then feed on the 

 following halwa : 



Receipt for strengthening the cock. — Take of white sugar one 

 pound, butter one pound, fine wheaten flour one and a half 

 pounds, hen's eggs 39, pistachio nuts 4 oz., almonds 4 oz., 

 saffron 6 mashas, cloves 3 tolas, cardamums one tola, nutmegs 

 2, sweet fennel 7 2 oz., black pepper 2 tolas, gum mastic of 



1 Kurlz karna, the author's word for to preen or oil, is properly M to 

 moult. " Ordinary fowls are said not to oil their feathers. 



* Katholi, dim. of hath. Some cockers say this is injurious. The 

 swinging strengthens the legs. To exercise a cock, the cocker carrying 

 a second cock in his arms will run for a short distance with it and then 

 show it to its antagonist. The cock on the ground will run up to 

 the attack when the cocker repeats the manoeuvre, and so on. 



s The author probably means a hanging perch. 



* i.e., about an hour before sunrise. 



6 Tapa, properly a dome-shaped coop, either of close basket-work 

 or else barred like a cage. 



6 Large heavy cocks may be exercised for an hour, but small active 

 cocks get worn out and should be only exercised for \ hour — so an 

 experienced cocker informs the translator. 



The method of strengthening the cock's legs is to lift it with both 

 hands a few inches from the ground and drop it. This is done a few 

 times and the cock is then shampooed on the breast and legs. It is 

 then again ■ danced ' as before , and so on. 



Fighting quails are ■ danced ' by hand on a cloth. 



7 Saunf or sonf, H., Indian sweet fennel seeds, Foeniculum vulqare. 



