222 GAME COCKS. 



Information degree, that they can hardly propagate their species, and the 



SS^ train- ^^^^ ^^ remarked in horses. If game cocks are bied in and in, 



ing, andma- they will stand to be killed without flinching, but they have 



nagement of not spirit or, activity enough to attack their foes with any effect. 



*" * If intended for fighting, they should never be crossed with 



dunghill fowls, for any taint of that blood makes them unfit for 



a long contest. The best plan is, occasionally to cross with 



some of the game breed of a different slock. 



It is of great importance to have cocks inwardly clean, that is 

 free from fat, for on that depends iheir being in wind. Neither 

 race horses nor game cocks that are inward'y fat can be in 

 wind. To give them a good constitution, it is better to keep 

 them as much as possible in the open air, on a grass-plot, and 

 with a gravel walk to go to. The more gravelly the soil on 

 which they are kept the better. Yards are dangerous, more 

 especially where horses are physicked, as the cocks may pick 

 up what may do them mischief. Cleanliness is particularly neces- 

 sary. When young, the chickens are kept with the hen under 

 a hutch, and fed with oat groats ; when they become older 

 they get unhuUed barley, which is reckoned more nourishing 

 than oats. When tiiey are put up to fight they are kept in 

 small penns and fed for three or four days wi'.h the very best 

 barley. For drink they get about a gill and a half of water per 

 day, of as soft a quality as possible, and with a little toasted 

 bread put into it to make it still softer. During the' remainder 

 oftheirstay in the penns, they are fed on one third wheat and 

 two thirds barley, which is a nourishing diet, without being 

 too costive. They are fed twice a-day, early in the morning, 

 and at eight at night. Before being fed the second time, the 

 crop is examined to see that it is quite empty and the food di- 

 gested. They ought not to have before they are put into the 

 penns, above three or four hens with them, and none after. 



About four or five days before fighting they are physicked. 

 The best medicine ir. about half a table-spoonful of cream of tar- 

 tar made up with butter into a pill. This they can easily be 

 I made to take. The object is only fo give them only two or 



three loose stools, which lightens them, and makes their flesh 

 afterwards firmer. The day they are physicked they get no- 

 thing but a little warm water. Next morning they are put 

 again on their hard feCd of one-third wheat and two-thirds bar- 

 ley, and in the evening of that da> they get a hot meal, consist- 

 ing 



