GAME COCK
.—The true-bred GAME COCK is a species of fowl almost peculiar to this country; his natural and instinctive courage will never permit him to yield to an opponent, however he may be superior in WEIGHT and STRENGTH; but he will, even under those disadvantages, continue to fight till literally cut to pieces. After the loss of eyes, with the body wounded and perforated in every part, when even the use of his legs are gone, and he is no longer able to stand, but lays extended upon the sod, with his victorious opponent exultingly CROWING over his mangled frame, he will continue to shew fight with his beak, to the last remains of life.
Those NOBLEMEN and GENTLEMEN who have (from hereditary rule, and local custom) continued the sport of COCKING, in the neighbourhoods where their country mansions and landed estates lay, have been, and are, exceedingly circumspect and cautious in the BREED, lest any chance of contamination should creep in, by an injudicious, improper, or unlucky, cross in the blood; for as some HUNDREDS of POUNDS are frequently depending upon ONE MAIN, and that main upon the battle of a single cock, no such money can be betted with a probable or equal chance of winning, unless the unsullied purity of the BREED is most accurately ascertained. In confirmation of which remark, it is to be observed, that whenever a COCK, in FIGHTING, declines the battle, no longer faces his adversary, but repeatedly turns tail, and runs away, his blood is no longer to be relied on; and such cock has not only his neck broke in the Pit, but the whole of that breed are destroyed, to prevent farther contamination, as well as future loss, disgrace, and disappointment.
Game cocks are bred of various colours, according to the fancy or opinion of different AMATEURS, many of whom have their favourite plumage; their colours are technically described by the variations in feather, and are as follow: The black or pheasant-breasted RED; the black-breasted GINGER; the speckle-breasted ginger dun; the black-breasted YELLOW DUCKWING; the turkey-breasted DITTO; the SMUTTY DUN; the BRASS-WINGED BLACK; and the SMOCK, which is a milk-white, having the appearance of a common barn-door fowl; and the odds are proportionally against them whenever they are brought to Pit, which is now but seldom, the breed being nearly or quite destroyed.
Two opinions have always been, and still are, entertained respecting THE COCKS most proper to breed from, admitting the standard of bone, strength, weight, and standing, to be just the same. Some prefer breeding from A COCK who has WON many hard-fought battles, by which his own blood is so fairly proved; whilst others maintain the consistency of breeding only from the full brothers of such, (who are called MAIDEN COCKS, as never having fought,) under an impression, that the former must have sustained material injury by the wounds received, and the blood lost, in the battles he had formerly fought. However those who BREED GAME FOWL may differ upon this particular point, it is an opinion nearly unanimous, that if you breed entirely for the Pit, that no cock should be bred from younger than TWO, or more than SIX, years old. Although it is right to breed from a strong, bony, close-made, majestic, high-standing cock, yet it is by no means prudent so to do from cocks much above match weight; that is to say, never to exceed FOUR POUNDS, TWELVE OUNCES, at the utmost; for should the HENS prove large also, the progeny might run still more into size and bone, and never fall into any match whatever.
In breeding GAME CHICKEN, to breed with success, there are some general rules, which should be strictly attended to, and invariably persevered in. No BROOD-COCK should walk with more than four hens; three being, in fact, fully sufficient. Game hens should never be permitted to bring forth a clutch of chickens before the last week in February, nor after the first week in May; those hatched in March and April are only adapted to the Pit, and are always preferable, in SIZE and GROWTH, to those hatched at any other season of the year. Hens after hatching should be cooped asunder, where the chickens cannot intermix; as the hens will not only kill the young of each other, but FIGHT THEMSELVES with the same inveteracy as THE COCKS. If a game hen, with chicken, retreats when attacked by another in the same state, her produce has been suspected to prove, in future, defective in courage; this opinion has, however, been founded upon false principles; because it is a very common circumstance for the younger hen to give place to an older, as it always is for THE STAG to submit to the OLD COCK, who must and will continue master of his walk.
During the first year after being hatched, they are called individually CHICKEN; from twelve months to two years old, they are termed STAGS, and from that period called COCKS, being then thought in their prime; but they are probably more so AT THREE, if properly walked. Cock chickens should never be permitted to run too long together, but be separated as soon as they begin fighting with each other; and this ought to be the more strictly attended to, because it frequently happens, that out of a whole clutch, by neglect or inattention, what with scalped heads, loss of eyes, broken beaks, or deformed feet, not one has ever been brought to the scale.
Cock chicken, when first removed, at three or four months old, are placed where they continue to walk under an OLD COCK, and will continue obedient and submissive till nine and ten, or sometimes TWELVE MONTHS old; the experiment is nevertheless too hazardous to be made; they had much better be taken to a MASTER-WALK in proper time, to avoid the probability of either one or both being SPOILED. The most eminent BREEDERS, as well as the most enthusiastic BETTERS, have one mode of endeavouring to fix a criterion, how far they can depend upon the heel, the fight, and the blood, of any particular BREED or CROSS they may have been induced to adopt. This experiment (dreadfully cruel as it is) is termed "CUTTING OUT," and consists in pitting such CHICKEN of seven, eight, or nine months old, unarmed, against their own brothers, or others of superior age, weight, and strength, having SILVER SPURS; if the chicken, so unarmed, and without the least chance of success, continues the combat till completely deprived of life, without displaying the least tendency to cowardice, or consciousness of defeat, more of his brothers have the same severe and "fiery ordeal" to undergo, when, if the result is just the same, the cross is admitted to be good, and the BREED is persevered in, till, from circumstances, the blood is thought to degenerate, when new crosses are adopted, and new experiments made. See Cocking, Cock-match, and Cockpit.