52 
MISCELLANEA. 
embodying, in short, in its individual person, all the most in- 
dubitable characteristics of gallinaceous aristocracy. 
We do not possess any very satisfactory record of the original 
country of the game fowl ; but I am disposed to cede that honour 
to India, the natives of which have always been remarkable for 
their love of cock-fighting; and we also know that there still exists 
in India an original variety of game cock, very similar to our own , 
but inferior in point of size. As to the date or occasion of their 
first introduction into the British islands, we know nothing certain; 
but I think it probable that we owe it to the invasion of Julius 
Csesar, the Romans having been very fond of the sport of cock- 
fighting. Some have asserted the existence of the breed amongst 
us prior to the above era ; but they can adduce no proof of their 
assertion, and both probability and plausibility are against their 
opinion, and in favour of mine*. 
The earliest record of cock-fighting in England is in the time of 
Fitzstephen, who wrote the life of Thomas a Becket, in the reign 
of Henry II, about A.D. 1100. 
The game fowl is somewhat inferior in size to other breeds, and 
in his shape he approximates more closely to the elegance and 
lightness of form usually characteristic of a pure and uncon- 
taminated race. Amongst poultry he is what the Arabian is 
amongst horses, the high-bred short horn amongst cattle, and the 
fleet greyhound amongst the canine race. 
The flesh of the game fowl is of a beautifully white colour, 
tender and delicate in the extreme. The hens are excellent layers; 
and although the eggs are somewhat under the average size, they 
are not to be surpassed, if indeed equalled, as to excellence of 
flavour. Such being the character of this variety of fowl, it would, 
doubtless, be much more extensively cultivated than it is, were it 
not for the difficulty attending the rearing of the young brood ; 
their pugnacity being such, that a brood is scarcely feathered before 
at least one-half is killed or blinded by fighting. 
Buffon, and other continental writers on natural history, have 
given this fowl the not unappropriate title of the “ English Fowl;” 
and truly it is in England that the very best specimens of the breed 
are to be met with. I cannot here avoid mentioning the justly 
celebrated breed in possession of the Right Honourable the Earl of 
Derby — a breed that has been preserved in that noble family for 
many generations, and that has never yet been known to turn tail, 
notwithstanding the pertinacious adherence of a white feather to 
the pile; a blemish that no breeding has been able to eradicate, 
but which, notwithstanding the well-known proverbial prejudice to 
the contrary, has, in this instance, been the never-failing con- 
comitant of courage. 
From the Farmer's Herald. 
* II. I). Richardson on “ The Domestic Fowl.” 
