170 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



CHAPTER XY. 



CONCERNING COCK-FIGHTING. 



TnERE is no place like a sleepy country-town 

 for retaining primitive manners and customs. 

 There is a quaint conservatism in everything 

 and everybody about the place. And just 

 as old ale and older traditions are treasured, 

 so are relics of barbarism. 



The men at the sign of the " Bush " are 

 addicted to Badger-baiting whenever a " brock " 

 can be found. They keep a "scratch" pack of tiny 

 draghounds to hunt Martens among the crags, 

 and are always hard in the wake of the Otter 

 Hounds in summer. Bull-baiting has gone out, 

 but the ring remains on the green to which the 

 beasts were fastened. This was indulged even at 

 the beginning of the present century, and in 

 many places was upheld by Corporate bodies. 



But of all these barbarous sports Cock-fighting 

 was perhaps the most popular. Nor has its 



