Secondly, the little Cock at a Year old becomes fit to Feed and Fight, whereas the Shake-bag must be two Year old, or more, e’er he is brought into the Pit.
Thirdly, a Fortnights Diet serves the little Cock, whereas three Weeks is not sufficient time to fit the great Cock for the Pit: and besides all this, the little Cock not only requires less cost and care, but also when he comes to Fight he affords you most Pleasure and Delight, no sooner is he set down, but like Lightning he falls upon his Enemy, Dances a Bloody round, and in his sparring Capers higher than your Head, then links and never looses ’till his hold breaks, or his Adversary dies. They rise and fall together, still striving to the last which shall strike most, and hardest blows, Stabing each other without intermission, till Death conclude the Combat.—O rare Birds! what Pleasure upon Earth can equal this?
The way and manner of great Cocks Fighting.
But now the Shake-bag, or great Cock’s way of Fighting I confess is very different from the little Battle-Cock, and in my opinion far less delightful: for first when you set the great Cock down, he slowly moves towards the Warrior with whom he is to try his Fortune, and after twenty turns and hovers, perhaps he strikes a blow, then stands again, and either pecks, or may be scraps the Earth, as if he meant to Fight no more, or else were willing to see the effects of his first blow, e’er he a second struck; but first or last you shall have three or four of these long flights, and that he thinks sufficient for sparring; for after this, with Spanish Gravity he strides up to his Enimy’s Beard, and takes a hold, and most irreverently there pulls and lugs him too and fro, to try whether he may with safety rise and strike; for nothing baulks a great Cock more than a Fall, because like Elephants, when down, they find it difficult to rise; wherefore they seldom strike but when their hold is strong, and then with their broad Lances they dig such Orifices in each others bulky Sides, that like a Cane drawn, when a Butt of Claret is set to Float, their stock of Blood flows forth, boyling in bubbles as it rolls along the surface of the Earth, till their Strength as well as Blood be so far exhausted, that they are forced to strike their Beaks into the Earth, and makes their languid Necks help to prop up their Sinking Bodies: so that set thus a little to bleed their last, the Handler he steps in, and with a pinch behind, hopes yet to make the dying Cock to rise and strike at all, though ten to one he nothing hit: however, if he but peck, it serves to prolong the time, and shews the hardness of the Creature, which indeed is all, and in my opinion the only Excellency that pertains to Cocks of this sort, and Magnitude.
But to leave every Man to his liberty, to make choice of which sort of Birds best please him, I shall proceed in the next place to set down such necessary Rules and Observations as shall be requisite to be understood by all such as are desirous to be absolute Masters in the true way of breeding these Royal Birds, both Match-Cocks, and Shake-bags.
How to breed up Game-Cocks.
SO then, if you are desirous to breed a Cock of the Game, whose delicacy of Shape, and Excellency of Heels, whose admirable hardness, and most exquisite deportment in all respects, may not only prove pleasing, but also profitable to you: Imprint these subsequent Lines in your Memory: so that when you come to breed a Bird of this sort, you may not be wanting or unacquainted in those Misteries practised by the ablest Masters, in the World at this day, in the Noble Sport of Cocking.
Of Cocks and Hens to Breed by.
