180 
THE BANKIVA COCK. 
the amusements of Shrove-Tuesday, till so late as 
the commencement of 1700. It was permitted in the 
public schools as an amusement to the boys, the 
preceptor, in some instances, being obliged to furnish 
the victims, which served to lessen the expense of 
these institutions, by collecting a certain rent or due 
for each cock which was produced ; and in a parish in 
the north of Scotland, according to the last Statisti- 
cal Account, the schoolmaster’s perquisites were the 
cock-fighting dues, equal to one quarter’s payment 
of each scholar. 
Throwing at cocks is perhaps less known. The 
following description is given by Brand, in his inte- 
resting popular antiquities : — “ The owner of the 
cock trains his bird for some time before Shrove- 
Tuesday, and throws a stick at him himself, in order 
to prepare him for the fatal day, by accustoming him 
to watch the threatened danger, and, by springing 
aside, to avoid the fatal blow. He holds the poor 
victim on the spot marked out by a cord fixed to his 
leg, at a distance of nine or ten yards, so as to be 
out of the way of the stick himself. Another spot 
is marked, at the distance of twenty-two yards, for 
the person who throws to stand upon. He has three 
shiys or throws for twopence, and wins the cock if 
he can knock him down, and run up and catch him 
before the bird recovers his legs. In 1680 this cus- 
tom was sanctioned in the environs of London, and 
the proceeds applied to the poor-rates.” 
A hen was also sometimes made use of in another 
