Cockfight

“ Cockfighting, you know, is the national sport."
"And it is a wicked, cruel thing, Longley. I don't see how a man can call himself a man and put in his time looking at one rooster trying to tear another to death with steel spurs."
"It is all that you say of it, and so is bullfighting."
"I'm glad we haven't any such national sports," I went on. "Baseball and football are good enough for me."
"They laugh at baseball and call it baby's play."
"Never mind, it isn't inhuman, and their fights are."
"Fortunes are won and lost on bull- and cockfights. ”

“ Ibulandus ang kaban ilálum sa hagdan, Shove the trunk underneath the stairs.
búlang1 n event (fiesta or market) at which a cockfight is held. v [A; b] hold a cockfight. Magbúlang dinhi ug tábù, They hold cockfights here on market day. (→) n gaff on a gamecock. paN- v 1 [A2; b6 (1) ] attend a cockfight and bet. 2 [A2; b6 (1) ] for a cock to win in a fight. Pwirting pamúwang sa ákung manuk, My cock wins wherever he fights. 2a for a man to win several wives in succession after his previous wife died (humorous) . ”

“ When these animals had retired from the field, the old but not very humane or merciful custom of cockfighting was introduced, and a main of cocks was fought, the chances of which were for a long time precarious until at length death decided the victory, and the survivor was borne off triumphant. ”

“ These weapons make cruel wounds, and cause the death of one or another of the combatants, almost before the sport has well begun. To the Malay of the East Coast, this form of cock-fighting is regarded as stupid and unsportsmanlike, an opinion which I fully share. It is the marvellous pluck and endurance of the birds, that lend an interest to a cock-fight,—qualities which are in no way required, if the birds are armed with weapons, other than those with which they are furnished by nature. ”

“ The best apology for cock-fighting I ever heard was made by an eccentric uncle of mine, who asked his censor, "Why did God put the fighting drop into the game-cock's veins but that he might fight when he got the chance?"
There is cruelty, peradventure, in attaching long steel spurs, keen as bradawls, to the cocks' legs, as there is in supplying men-at-arms with swords and rifles instead of letting them wage war against one another with teeth and feet and fists—the weapons of nature. Chanticleer of the martial breed should be put into the ring with his natural spurs. ”

“ A battle royal may consist of any number of cocks, but is hardly ever known to exceed eight. The owner of each having made good his stake, or previously contributed his share of the prize or purse for which they fight, and all parties being ready, the cocks are most inhumanly pitted at the same moment, when a long and distressing scene ensues, to which there is no termination so long as a second cock is left alive, and the victory can only be obtained by the last survivor. This species of sport is but little practised now, {55} and that in the most distant and remote corners of the kingdom. ”

“ Up to the middle of the 18th century cock-fighting was 'all the rage' in England. 'Cocking,' says a writer of the time, 'is a sport or pastime so full of delight and pleasure, that I know not any game in that respect which is to be preferred before it.'
The training of the pugnacious bird had now become a sort of art, and this is as curious as anything about the old 'royal diversion.' A few extracts from a treatise on the subject may be interesting as leaves from the book of manners and customs of the good old times. ”

“ Further, the warrior should be careful to avoid partaking of a cock that has died fighting or anything that has been speared to death; and no male animal may on any account be killed in his house while he is away at the wars. For it seems obvious that if he were to eat a cock that had died fighting, he would himself be slain on the field of battle; if he were to partake of an animal that had been speared, he would be speared himself; if a male animal were killed in his house during his absence, he would himself be killed in like manner and perhaps at the same instant. ”

“ If not for Combate, why was the Fighting-Cock created? why has he that extraordinary hardness and vallour peculiar to him alone given him? and for what other end was this Stout and Daring Champion made, if not to Fight? the common Dunghill Cock eats as well, and breeds as well, or better, and is as good about a house, and as useful in all other respects (Fighting only excepted;) so that if they were not made for that end, they had this excellency bestowed upon them in vain, and the Royal Bird that in valour so far excells all other penigerous Creatures must be but a useless thing at best. ”

“ CHAPTER XXXV. Cock-fighting—Its illegality—Public recognition of it—Description of company at a cock-fight—High stakes—Bull-baiting—Debate thereon in the House of Commons—Prize-fighting—Famous pugilists—George IV. as a patron of the Ring—Attempts to put down prize-fighting—Female physical education—Cudgel-playing, and other sports.
COCK-FIGHTING was another way of gambling—a barbarous pastime, yet of great antiquity, and, changing the name of the combatants to quails, or partridges, extending all over the world, especially in the East. ”

“ Sundays, wakes and church festivals were favourite occasions for them. The habit of holding mains in schools was common from the 12th to about the middle of the 19th century. When cocking was at its height, the pupils of many schools were made a special allowance for purchasing fighting-cocks, and parents were expected to contribute to the expenses of the annual main on Shrove Tuesday, this money being called “cockpence.” Cock-fighting was prohibited by law in Great Britain in 1849. ”

“ A cock-fight is, however, not a prolonged or painful thing. Tiny knives, sharp as surgical instruments, are fastened to each bird’s heels, and the cock which gets in the first blow generally settles his antagonist. ”

“ The revolution not having materialized, I went to the cock-fight. It was held in a back yard, where a rude board shack had been improvised. There was a dirt-floored ring, surrounded by a four-foot wall, and overlooked by a rickety grand-stand and a still more rickety bleachers.
The ring was already thronged with natives, each holding a rooster in his arms, and shoving it at another fellow’s rooster in order to provoke the martial spirit. The birds were fluttering, blinking beady eyes at other birds, and clucking loudly to express their irritation. ”

“ Bull-fights are only an occasional luxury, but cock-fights are a daily standing dish. The cock-pit (coliseo de gallos) is a very handsome building; [Pg 602] here cock-fights take place every day. The natural weapons of the fowls are not sufficiently deadly to satisfy the Limanian spectators; and in place of the spur of the right foot, which is cut off, is put a sharp curved blade of steel or gaff. Whatever else may be lacking, Lima can justly boast the finest amphitheatre in the world for the purpose of cock-fighting. ”

“ When one sees a Filipino on the way to a cock-fight, with his bird sitting on his arm, there is generally another native walking beside him, carrying this little black box containing the spurs and the little whet-stone.
There is as much roguery and “doping” amongst these cock-fighters as there is about horse-racing amongst “civilised” men, and some of the dodges are really very ingenious, such, for instance, as taking tiny pills of opium or other poison under the finger nail and dropping them in front of your opponent’s bird when it is pecking about before the contest begins. ”

“ A first-rate cocker will never deceive by opening upon an old haunt, nor yet find the gun unprepared by delaying to give due warning before he flushes the bird. When cocks are abundant, some teams are broken, not only to avoid flick, but actually not to notice a pheasant, or anything beside woodcock. Hardly any price would tempt a real lover [46] of cock-shooting, in a cocking country, to part with such a team. Hawker terms the sport, “the fox-hunting of shooting.” ”

“ This most terrible of natural phenomena is of frequent occurrence in this quarter of the world. In many parts of the city we observed whole streets and churches in ruins, as if from a recent bombardment.
Cock-fighting is the great national sport, amusement, or cruelty, which of the three you will, indulged in by the good people of Manilla. Everywhere along the streets you may meet Spanish boys and half castes, with each his bird tucked under his arm ready for the combat, should the chance passer-by make it worth their while. ”

“ Have you forgotten that I am going to the cock-fight, and want a real? What is a cock-fight without a real? Compadre the brave, who stumbles along and never falls, I am sitting on your doorstep, and I am writing on your wall—if I had as much money as you I’d go to every bull-fight. I’d keep a fighting-cock myself.” And once again: “If I was blind I’d have money out of the cafes, but I couldn’t see my bulls toss the horses. I’ll be a bandit, and when I’m old, and if Diaz doesn’t put me against the wall and prod holes in me like Gonzales, they’ll take me in the Rurales, same as Gerado.” ”

“ In a country under our own rule, the Philippine Islands, cock-fighting is one of the best liked forms of sport. To take this from the Filipino would be worse than robbing him of his freedom. Sundays and feast-days are the times for cock-fighting, and on these dates the cock-pit is sure to be crowded. When a feast-day arrives, after the siesta, which comes in the hot hours of the afternoon, crowds of natives may be seen going to the large bamboo building where the fight is to take place, many of them with fighting cocks under their arms. ”

“ They present one cock to the other, holding his head down so that the other may peck at it and thus irritate him. Then the other is given a like opportunity, for in every duel there must be fair play, whether it is a question of Parisian cocks or Filipino cocks. Afterwards, they hold them up in sight of each other, close together, so that each of the enraged little creatures may see who it is that has pulled out a feather, and with whom he must fight. Their neck-feathers bristle up as they gaze at each other fixedly with flashes of anger darting from their little round eyes. ”

“ The birds may not be touched after being set down in the pit, unless to extricate them from the matting. Whenever a bird refuses to fight longer he is set breast to breast with his adversary in the middle of the pit, and if he then still refuses to fight he is regarded as defeated. Among the favourite breeds may be mentioned the “Irish gilders,” “Irish Grays,” “Shawlnecks,” “Gordons,” “Eslin Red-Quills,” “Baltimore Topknots,” “Dominiques,” “War-horses” and “Claibornes.”
Cock-fighting possesses an extensive literature of its own. ”

“ The actual battle is sometimes held in a cock-pit, but in many villages takes place at the humble street corner. When the fray commences, there is great excitement; and cocks, which to begin with are perfectly quiet, have their fighting weapons affixed, and are tormented by being placed near their rivals and suddenly taken away. This performance has the effect of infuriating them; and when they are thoroughly alert with the desire to fight, they are released, and fly at each other. ”

“ So that you see if you have an ill-natur’d Bird that to a wonder winns a Battle against a good Cock (which really is a thing that rarely happens) yet you no Credit gain thereby, and therefore you had better commit such a Cock to the Pot, than to the Pit, and more Profit you will find in stewing him for the Table, than in stiving him for the Battle, when once you discover him to be a Bird defective in his Heeling. ”

“ The birds face each other and try to jump, so that when descending the sharp spurs will cut into their opponent which is, of course, beneath. The wounds in cock-fighting, save for occasional pecks, are almost always on the head, neck, and back. Most are slight, the thick felting of feathers stopping all but the most directly delivered strokes. Some cockers, when the birds are fairly set to, will not allow them to be separated, but I never let my cock down into a ring unless it is agreed that any fighter cut down—that is, knocked off its feet with a blow from the spurs—is considered beaten. ”

“ With a gun at half-cock there is but little danger of such accidents; for, when the cock is drawn back, it either comes to the full-cock, and remains, or it returns to the half-cock, but does not go down upon the cone. Another source of very many sad and fatal accidents resulting from the most stupid and culpable carelessness is in persons standing before the muzzles of guns and attempting to pull them out of wagons, or to draw them through a fence or brush in the same position. If the cock encounters an obstacle in its passage, it will, of course, be drawn back and fall upon the cap. ”

“ In the time of which I write, Cocking was a recognized sport, publicly advertised. Morning Post, January 5, 1805: “Cocking, to be Fought on Monday, January 7, 1805, and continue all the week, at the Cock Pit Royal, South side of St. James’s Park, the Gentlemen of Suffolk, and the Gentlemen of Hampshire’s Main of Cocks, for Five [296] Guineas the battle, and One Hundred Guineas the odd. To begin fighting each day precisely at Half-past Five o’clock.” Indeed, “Cock-fighting, Shooting, and Military Carriages” were advertised. ”

“ Those that do not fall in are set to fight what are called "byes." In a Welsh main the cocks fight until only one is left alive. They are like the famous "Kilkenny cats."
If we should seek a country where cock-fighting may take place under the laws, the nearest to us is in the isle of Cuba. In the cities of that island the cock-pit is as popular as the circus is with us. It is a circular space, with seats around filled with lookers-on and bettors, for much money is lost and won in one of these fights. The birds are of a native breed, and are said to be very brave and bold. ”