.

: ( 35 )
tion one or two as briefl.y as poffible ; In the
Iaít Ycar, fave onc, that Mr Bqjlom of Liucole
bred, he rnade a Crofs betwixt his Duck t.Fings
and favourire Dow11-R11mps, which were borh
excellent good; the Cock being a true fhap'd,
frefh, two Year old Cock, and the Hens frelh
three Years old ; Mr Bojlom thought this to' be
the beíl:Crofs he ever made in his Life, yet not-
wi thfianding thefe were really good of thern-
felves, and fofficiently tried as fuch, by fighting
a Nnmber of Brothers of each Sorr, which,
to my Knowledge were exceediog good, yet
they brcd vcry indifferent Stock; not excclling
in any one Reíped, but, on the Contrary, full
of Sloth and Inaél:ivity ; indced, rhere was one
of thcrn very remarkable for his Garue, (nor was
any of thcrn wanting in that Refped) but
firuck fifty fair Blows without doing any Exe-
cution, therefore had no Place in my Affrétion,
hecaufe every fiupid Ciad can perform the fame.
· But why this Cede. and Hens, full of Youth and
Life,and approv'd Goodnefs, did not breed bet-
ter, is the Thing neceflary to be enquired into,
and mufl be accounted for, or elfe can never be
arnended. Thc onl y Reafons that can .be gi ven
for ir, therefore, are thefe ; The Cock was got
by the old Duck-ff/ing, when eight Years old,
· and out of Mr Colfa11.'s Dolly-Pttllet; and tho'
he appear'd a very healthful Cock at that Agc,
yet, it is impoffible, but his Conílitution · mufi:
have been impair'd, by being cut fo ofrcn out of
Feather at that fatal Time of thc Ycar, being
in Scptember, bcíides being removed to, at leaít,
E z twenty
 ( 36 )
twenty different Places, where he muft mect with
bad Ufage at fome of them; and tho' his Sons,
which he got at that Age, appear'd very gay,
and ali of them won very handfomly, yet it is
poffible a Taint might enfoe from the hard
Ufage the old Duck-I f/i1~~ Cock rnet wirh, and
lie conceal'd in the firft Generation, or, at leaft,
not diícover it felf fo much in the firfi as' rhe
fecond.
The fecond Reafon that is to be given for ír,
might be owing to their different \Vay and Me-
thod of fighting, one being of. the Bull-Dog
Kind, the other of a more aétive and ready Way
of fighting, which is quite the reverte, and is
ycry often the Occafion of Croífes miffing, tho'
there are very few, even of the Curious, that
Iook upon it to be material ; but I will venture
to fay, that no one can aífure thernfelves of a
Crofs being jufi, without either confulting in
what Manner they fight, and wherein they ex-'
cel, that they may crofs with Things proper to
foit that Way of fighting, and keep up that
Excellence, or elfe by putting Relations toge-
ther after a propcr Manner : I don't fay, but
good Fowl may, and have becn bred, without
confulting either of thofe Merhods, and chiefly
by. relying upon Youth arid Blood ; but yet
there is not that Certainty in it, as in the for-
mer Ways,, which was the Reaíon of my un-
dertaking to nominare three different Sorrs that
rnight cxcel, the better to furnifh the Publick
with Ideas of what never entcr'd the Verge of
their Thougbts ; not that it was, in my ~pi·
ruon,
 ( 373 )
7 laft Reafon than the
nion, more owing to the
firft, that the Fowl of Mr Bojlom's <lid not
brced better, but add them both togcther, and
thcy rnay appear to any Perfon of Judgrnent
as an Obftacle. ·
I alfo knew a Rigbt Narril of Mr Heneagc's,
one of the very beft I ever-faw, which fought
at Grantbam, put to young Hens of Mr Bof-
lom's, Grand Daughters of the Otd D11ck-wi11g,
button'd in Left, which bred as indifferent Fowl
as the other Inftancc befare mention'd, both
which Kinds excell'd refpeétively: Now, there
are no Rcafons to be given for this, but the
Cock's being cut out of Feather, and harrafs'd
about, for he receiv'd no Damagc by fighting,
and rhe Reafon that was given befare. .
Thefe, with a great man y more Inflancesof thc
Iike Nature that 1 have rnet with lately, givc
me fofficient Ground to believe, that it is dange-
rous to purfoc ftrange Breeds too much ; and
wherever a Crofs does hit; to make the beft U fe
of ir, according to the Rules laid down; not but
I muft obferve before 1 conclude, that it is e-
qually as dangerous as it is advanrageous, to put
Relations together, if not manag'd with a great
Deal of Cantion ; thcrefore, ftriét Exarnination
muít be made, that there be no Taint, whether
in their Nature or Conftiturion, for it will cer-
tainly fhew itfclf double in the Offspring; likc...
wife the farnc in Shapc, if thcre be any Defor..
mity or Difproportion it is a furc Means to en-
creaíe it ; the fame alfo of thcir Irrcgularity in'
fighting, an Addition of which will render thern
. quite
 ( 383 )
quite aukward, for, as81 have obferv'd beforc,
thcre are a great many Sorts and Degrees of
Game-Fowl, that are deficient in feveral material
Points, and whenever fuch Defcds are diícover'd,
'tis neceífarv they Ihould be repair'd before Re-
lations be put together ; for it is but reafonable
to think, that two trifling Failings become a
Fault, as well as two good ~ali.fications help
to make an Excellcnce. ,

OJ Breeding and 1\lanagemefltof tbem, 'ti!/ jit

f or B1!fi11efs_. ·

I Have bcfore defcrib'd the true Game-Cock

in foch Manner as I would chufe to breed
from, therefore fhall begin with the propereft
Months in thc Year to breed in, which are
Marcb, April, and Mny . .'711ne fometimes pro-
duces very fiiff, 1hapcly Fowl, when the prc-
ceeding Months will not adrnit of it ; but yet it
is not proper to rely upon it in general, and
none will anfwer in that Month but fuch as are.
hred fiom-lcogthy as well as youthful Fowl on
borh Sides, -Marcb is look'd upon by moít, to
be the beft Month in the Year, and which I a-
grcc to ifitbe moderare and open Wcather, but
if attended with fcvere frofiy Mornings, and
cold, dry Winds, as it has in a particular Man-
ner difiinguifh'd itfclf for four or five Y cars laft
pafl, it ftops Chickens of their Growth.
The only Thing I have to ípeak in Favour
of Mnrcb, is thc Advantagc of having thc firíl:
Fruits of thc Hcn's Produdioo, which is very-
grcat
 ( 393 )
· grcat, Nature being at 9 that Time twice as
ftrong as at the latter End of the Sumrner, and
was I oblig'd to breed Fowl in Jt111e and Juty,
as fome do, I -would let my Hens fit in March,
and bring up their Young, after 'which, when
thev come to be frefh and Iuftful again, would
breed out of thcrn ; for l am ofOpinion, that if
a Hen bcgins to lay at Candlcmat and continues
till J.Jayday, tho' fhe is ever fo frefh and young,
it is as long as íhe can poffibly produce out
worth íetting; and I have obíerv'd, that cvery
Lowter have been confiderably lefs than othcr,
when a Hen is firongly inclin'd to fit; but thc
befi Month in the Year is .Aprit, for in this _
Month the W cather is more temperate, and
Chickens may be permítted·to go out four or
fivc Hours in a Day, for it is not to be íiippos'd
what Differcnce there is betwixt Chickens that
are confin'd too much in the Houfe in· cold
Weather, as from the latter End of Febrttary
until die Middlc of Mnrcb, and thofe which are
bred in Aprit; and was 1 a perfon qualify'd to
breed a Nurnber, 1 would have them all come
as near the Month of .Aprit as poííible, May
is not amifs, but does not in general, produce fo
long Fowl as the former Months do, yet it is
foon enough for Cbickens to come that are bred
from lengthy as well as youthful Fowl, fo that
there is no Neceffity for any one to confine
themfelves to one Month, but fhould brccd
fooner or later as the Fowl rcquire : It is no
Matter how foon Eggs are gather'd frorn old
Hens, becaufe thcy don't lay either fo foon or
fo
 ( 404 )
fo rnany as young 0 nor
ones do, do the Fowl run
fo much into a prepofterous Length as the Pro-
duét of young enes,
The next Thing I fhall treat of with Regard
to Brecding, is Places proper for it ; a great ma-
n y are of Opinión, that any Place will do, pro-
vided it. be an odd One, which Notion will ad-
'mit of fome Contradiéticn, becaufe there are di-
vers Places, fuch as Hovels, Windrnills, ~c.
which lie too much cxpos'd to cold Weather at
the Spring of. the Year : There is here and
thcrc a Cottage-Houfe which may fervc for that
End, for generally fpeaking, there is a little
Gardcn which affords a great deal of Pkafurc
and Warmth ; but the bcft and rnoft natural
Places to brced early Birds at, aré private Farm-
Yards, which afford both Plenty and Variety of
Meat all the Spring; fuch a Place as this is far
preferahle to any other that can be found out,
where Fowl muft be Hand-fed, for if due Care
be not taken hoth as to OEantity and ~ality of
Mear, thcy will decline very much in one Year's
Time; befidcsthc Want of Exercife that a Farrn-
Yard affords, for high Keeping, with a moderare
~antity of Hens, requires Excrcife in them as
well as Horfes and other Creatnrcs ; but here
is the Misforune, there is not one Brecdcr in
an hundrcd that will be at the Expence of a
Farrn-Yard ; for fuppofe it to be a Tenant's, it
can't be expeéted to be taken up the whole Year
round, without a reafonable Confideration: In
this Farrn-Yard 1 would breed, fometimes out of
four, five, or [ix Siftcrs, juft as the Cock requir'd
for
 ( 414 )
or Age; with Staggs 11 would · not exceed the
N urnber of three, becauíe they are fo full of
Mettle, that by conftant Treading, if they have
too many, Nature becomes weak, and fo con-
fequently will produce weakly Fowl ; two,
three, and four Year old Cocks may diípeníe
with five or fix, and at at five, íix, feven, and
eight Year old, would leffen their Number as
they ad vanced in Years: There are fome Bree-
ders even of the celebrated Race, which put ten
Hens to a Cock without any Exception to Years
or ought elfe, and the Reafon they give, why
they do it, is, becaufe one Strain from the Cock
is fufficient for the whole Lowter ; which ~o-
tion is quite wrong, and it is fo far evident to
the contrary, that tho' a Hen has been with a
Cock a Week or ten Days, which, was it. pofli-
ble to be done, is long enough, u pon taking him
away, that it is not fufficient to ftrain above eight
or nine Egs, which is far fhort of the whole
Lowter; nay, there is a great <leal of Room to
objeé\: againft the Truth of this, becaufe there
has been innumerable Proofs, that upon rakíng
upa Cock from a Hen and putting clown ano-
ther, after :flinging away three or four Eggs at
the moft, the Remaining Part fhall all be got
by the fecond Cock: This I íay, feemingly con-
tradiéts the other, yet it is poffible they may
both be true, becaufc the Seed of the fecond
Cock may deíl:roy that of the firft, and render it
of none Effeét. But when all thefe Doubts are
anfwered, what do they avail to the Truth of
Breeding ; for foppofe there be a Neceffity of
F putting