Taxidermy: A Late 19th Century Cased Gamecock (Gallus gallus domesticus), full mount cockerel stood
Taxidermy: A Late 19th Century Cased Gamecock (Gallus gallus domesticus), full mount cockerel stood facing to the left, amongst ferns and tall grasses, stood against faux rock and groundwork to either side, set against a pale blue painted back board, enclosed within a pine framed single-glass display case with ebonised moulding, 63.5cm by 25cm by 60.5cm
A cockfight is a blood sport between two cocks, or gamecocks, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term "cock of the game" used by George Wilson, in the earliest known book on the sport of cockfighting in The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607.