The Common Cock. 325 
courageous and strong that she will rise and fight any 
men or animals that dare to approach her nest. It is 
impossible to conceive how, with such a scanty suste- 
nance as she takes, she can, for twenty-one days, emit 
constantly from her body as much heat as would raise 
Fahrenheit's thermometer to ninety-six degrees. The 
flesh of this bird is delicate and wholesome, and univer- 
sally relished as nourishing and agreeable food. 
There are several varieties of families of this fowl. 
The Hamburg Cock has a beautiful tuft of feathers about 
his ears and on the top of his head ; and the Bantam has 
his legs and toes entirely feathered, which is more an 
impediment than an ornament to the bird. 
The cruel sport of cockfighting may be traced back to 
the earliest antiquity. The Athenians seem to have re- 
ceived it from India, where it is even now followed with 
a kind of frenzy ; and we are told that the Chinese will 
sometimes risk not only the whole of their property, but 
their wives and children, on the issue of a battle. The 
religion of the Greeks could not see that game with plea- 
sure, and therefore cockfighting was allowed only once a 
year; but the Romans adopted the practice with rap- 
ture, and introduced it into this island. Henry VIII. 
delighted in this sport, and caused a commodious house 
to be built for the purpose, which, although now applied 
to a very different use, still retains the name of the 
Cockpit. The part of our ships so called, seems also to 
indicate that in former times the diversion of cockfight- 
ing was permitted, in order to beguile the tedious hours 
of a long voyage. The Cock has been a subject of con- 
siderable interest with the poets; and has been very 
commonly called by them " Chanticleer :" 
" Within this homestead lived, without a peer 
For crowing loud, the noble Chanticleer." Dryden. 
" The feathered songster, Chanticleer, 
Had wound his bugle-horn, 
And told the early villager 
The coming of the morn." Chatterton. 
