Alabama Roundheads
by H.H Cowan & T.K. Bruner (1924)
While complying with the request of the editor for the history of the Alabama Roundheads I wish to say that writing for publication is not one of my strong points. However, I am willing to do my best and cooperate with the plans of Grit and Steel, which seems to have been inspired with new “pep” in the last few years and is now far ahead in its chosen field.
This story begins 45 years ago when I was born into the chicken game and which I have played in its every phase. I have bought, fed, fought, heeled and handled cocks of many different strains and crosses, and probably have done as much experimenting as any man of my years. It is my opinion that there is no one best strain of fowl and no one best feeder, but there are many of both in class “A” and when you make a main nowadays for real money you are sure to meet them. It seems the days of monopoly in the cocking game have passed, which I attribute to renewed interest in the sport and the increased flow of money and brains into the game.
This story begins 45 years ago when I was born into the chicken game and which I have played in its every phase. I have bought, fed, fought, heeled and handled cocks of many different strains and crosses, and probably have done as much experimenting as any man of my years. It is my opinion that there is no one best strain of fowl and no one best feeder, but there are many of both in class “A” and when you make a main nowadays for real money you are sure to meet them. It seems the days of monopoly in the cocking game have passed, which I attribute to renewed interest in the sport and the increased flow of money and brains into the game.
I do not claim to have
originated the best strain of the pit games in the world in my Alabama
Roundheads, but the fact that they have won the majority of their fights and
kept pace with the ever-increasing speed of the game for the past twenty years,
under all rules and any length of gaff, is very gratifying.
For the past several
years I have done most of my fighting at Memphis, Tenn., where my fowl were
known as Alabama Cocks, thus their name Alabama Roundheads. My fowl have passed the experimental
stage, having their characteristics inbred into them, and I feel with my system
of breeding I can hold them at their present standard for years to come.
Many years ago when Mr.
Allen and Mr. Shelton were defeating all opposition with their great strain of
Roundheads, I attended just about all the mains and tournaments in which they
were entered, forming an acquaintance and finally friendship with Mr. Shelton,
as he was a man whom to know was to like, being one of those old time Southern
gentlemen-sportsmen who at one time so characterized the gentility of the Old
South. In his passing the fraternity lost one of its great uplifters and the
South one of its best citizens. Through this association I became familiar with
the history and breeding of the Allen Roundheads and secured my first of these
from Mr. Shelton, personally, when at their best, and of his best. I fought
them pure for a number of years. From my knowledge of the Allen Roundheads they
were originated from a Saunders Roundhead cock bred over Col. Grist Grady hens
and then bred closely to the Sauders side. I was breeding and fighting these Roundheads continuously
each season and it gradually became apparent to me that they were being bred a
bit too close to cope with the strong, rough cocks they were having to meet. It
is my opinion, from both experience and observation, that the old time Allen
Roundheads with their smart side-stepping tactics and phenomenal sparring
qualities and rapid straight hip blows while in the air, could best most cocks
they met in the early stages of the battle.
I think this excellent
quality was their chief asset and enabled them to make one of the best, if not
the best, pit records of any Southern strains. But in the latter stages of
battle, when it came down to a give-and-take, I have never thought they
excelled, and I was convinced that if they were to keep pace with the game and
maintain their record they must be bred to fight as efficiently when the battle
came down to a “tug of war” as in the beginning of a fight. I made several
unsuccessful experiments with this end in view, but I kept on trying
and about fifteen years ago I became acquainted with the great characteristics
of the old time Mahoney Gull fowl, with their desperate gameness, strong
constitutions and deadly heel. These being the qualities I wished to add to the
already great fighting qualities of the Allen Roundheads, I decided to make an
infusion of this blood. I secured a royally bred Gull cock of the old school,
through friendship with a source whence no one has ever been able to buy a
feather to my knowledge, and bred him over my Roundhead hens.
The Gulls being a
yellow and white leg strain of black breasted reds with few exceptions of
medium station, the type and color was only slightly changed from this cross;
but the plumage was longer and much improved. The plumage of the Gull fowl is of a
marked characteristic, consisting of a very broad feather extremely long and
with a quill of whale-bone toughness. Such plumage enables a cock to be fought
several times during a season in good feathers.
The first cross were
strong, tough and desperately game. I bred back to the Roundhead side, fighting
and testing them. Each year’s breeding showed an improvement over the preceding
one, and kept this up until they again were back to the Roundhead type, showing
all the old time fighting qualities of the Allen Roundheads, yet this was
backed by strength and endurance, making them more efficient cocks at any stage
of battle.
It is my experience
that any cocks must have the ability and inhibition to go all the way, as well
as great scoring or starting, in order to hold their own in cock fighting of
the present day. I fought them with fair success a few years and studied them
closely, and finally reached the conclusion that their ability to strike
rapidly and efficiently from any angle when in close quarters could be improved
upon. Knowing this quality to be one of the outstanding characteristics of the
Grist Gradys their foundation stock, I made a fresh infusion of this old
reliable blood.
I secured a cock that
proved to be of the right sort and his produce were deep game and he imparted
the quality I had aimed at to a marked degree, without the loss of any other
essential quality. This proved to be a real combination fighting cocks,
efficient at any stage of battle, which their record shows. By inbreeding and
line breeding to the outstanding individuals for the past 12 years these
qualities have been stamped into them, until they come uniform in type and
action. The Alabama Roundheads are practically of the same color and type as
the Allen Roundheads. Cocks are black breasted reds with white or yellow legs,
but a pumpkin or a deep cherry red or a spangle occurs occasionally, as well as
both straight and pea-combs. The hens come from light buff to wheaten,
occasionally a green or dark legged fowl will appear among the offspring. All
these slight variations come honestly from their foundation blood; the green or
dark legs from the Redquill in the Gradys, and the straight combs from both the
Gulls and Gradys. However, the largest proportion of them come with white and
yellow legs, pea-combs and in color black breasted reds.
For the past eight
years I have done most of my fighting at Memphis, Tenn., in combination with
Bruner and Herron. Bruner doing all the honors in the cock house and pit. I
consider him a fine judge of a cock and among the best feeders in the South. He
knows what to expect of a cock, and if they had not been right in every respect
he would have found it out several years ago and passed them up. He tests nearly
every loser and they have to be right for him or he has no use for them. He has
been breeding the Alabama Roundheads ten years and has greatly assisted me in
bringing these fowl to their present state of excellence by his help and advice
in selecting brood fowl from the performance of the cocks in the pit. Mr.
Bruner has conditioned and fought more of these cocks possibly than any other
man, knows them through and through, as he has practically lived in the
cock house with them for the past several years.
Alabama Roundhead Pedigree Table
By Gameness til the End
Based on the articles posted on this post
Alabama Roundhead Pedigree Table
By Gameness til the End
Based on the articles posted on this post
Alabama Roundhead
red, white & yellow shank, peacomb sometimes, pumpkin, cherry, spangle, green shank, single comb HH Cowan & TK Bruner |
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Alabama Roundheads
By H.H Cowan & T.K. Bruner (1924)
Sư Vuơng phỏng dịch
***Lời nguời dich: Bài này nói đến một dòng gà lớn trong những dòng gà Hoa Kỳ đuợc tạo bởi những sư kê lão luyện, đầu tư tiền bạc và tim óc vào môn chơi. Cầm trong tay những con gà bậc nhất mà họ không hài lòng vẫn không ngừng cải tiến để tạo dòng gà riêng cho dù nhiều lần thất bại, họ mất hơn muời mấy năm để cuối cùng đã thành công. Trong bài nói đến quan điểm pha giống và thử nghiệm của họ và cuối cùng dùng trùng lẫn cận huyết để khóa lại những gì họ đã tạo ra.***
Câu chuyện cách đây 45 năm khi tôi sinh ra trong ngay môi truờng đá gà. Tôi ra nhập môn đá gà duới mọi hình thự’c Tôi mua, gà, cho ăn, đá cột cựa, thả gà biết bao con gà thuộc nhiều giòng rặt và pha khác nhau, có lẽ thu thập kinh nghiệm nhiều như bất cứ sư kê nào cùng thời
tôi. Theo tôi không bổn gà nào nhất hay quá tệ trong nhóm gà hạng A, nhưng trong nhóm này có rất nhiều gà hạng nhất cũng như gà nộp, một khi bạn kiếm tiền bằng nghề này bạn truớc sau gì cũng đụng. Duờng như thời độc tôn của môn chọi gà đã qua, chính vì đó tội trở lại tiếp tục thích thú môn chơi này, đầu tư them tiền bạc và tâm trí . Tôi không dám nói tôi
là khởi nguồn của bổn gà Alabama Roundhead hay nhất thế giới trong môn chơi này. Nhưng sự thật là nó đã thắng đa số những trận đấu và giữ ngang hàng với buớc gia tăng vận tốc không ngừng của trò chơi này trong suốt 20 năm qua. Bất cứ luâ,t chơi nào, bất cứ lọai đinh dài ngắn khác nhau, cựa đinh chuyên nghiệp. Tôi chuyên đá truờng Memphis, bang Tennessee duới tên Alabama Roundhead. Bổn gà tôi đã qua thời kỳ trải nghiệm, chúng đã co’ cá tính riêng trong
huyết quản và tôi thấy với hê thống giữ dòng, gà tôi sẽ giữ vững tiêu chuẩn này trong vòng nhiều năm tới. Cách đây nhiều năm, khi mà Ông. Allen và Shelton
đang dùng dòng Roundheads triệt ha tất cả những ngôi vị tại truờng gà. Tôi dự kiến tất cả những trận đấu lớn và những giải mà họ tham dự, làm quen và cuối cùng kết bạn với ông Shelton. Ông Shelton ai biết ông cũng thích ông. Một trong mẫu nhân sĩ cổ điển miền Nam, có thời coi như mẫu “ông già Nam bộ” (Old South) . Khi ông qua đời, bạn hữu mất một nguời khích lệ nâng đỡ, miền Nam mất một công dân hạng nhất.
Qua liên hệ này tôi trở thành quen thuộc về lịch sử và quá trình tạo thành dòng Allen roundheads và tóm
đuợc con đầu tiên do chính tay ông Shelton trao
cho, một trong những con hay nhất trong thời vàng son nhất. Tôi đem đá rặt vài năm. Theo tôi biết Allens Roundheads xuất xứ từ Sauders Roundheads pha với mái của Col. Grist Grady rồi pha nguợc lại cho gần với nhánh Sauders. Tôi cản và đem đá dòng này trong nhiều năm. Tôi nhận thấy rằng những con này đá quá sát nút với mấy con gà gai góc, lì lợm thuộc hạng của nó. Theo kinh nghiệm và quan sát, nếu xét về khởi đầu cuộc đấu, nó có buớc né rất là thong minh, xổ tuyệt diệu và cú đạp thẳng giò trên không phải gọi là tuyệt đỉnh so với bất cứ dòng gà nào trong dàn nạp của cuộc đấu, với những tuyệt chiêu này đã tạo cho nó thành gà hay nhất nếu không là một trong những con gà hay nhất với số chiến công nhiều nhất so với bất cứ dòng gà nào miền nam. Nhưng đến khúc sau lúc cuộc chiến nếu kéo dài đến mày đá tao, tao đá mày tôi không
bao giờ thấy nó xuất sắc. Tôi phải công nhận nếu muốn giữ đà tiến bộ của môn chơi và trình độ giao tranh kiến hiệu, dòng này phải pha để thành những con gà không những xuất sắc từ khởi đầu cho đến khi cuộc chiến đến phút giằng co cũng phải hay tuơng tự như phút đầu. Tôi thử và thất bại nhiều lần với cái nhìn này. Cho đến cách đây 15 năm, tôi quen thuộc với bổn gà cũ Mahoney Gull, với tính nết lì lợm, mạnh mẽ và cựa đâm tử thần.
Đây là những điều tôi muốn thêm vào đặc tính chiến đấu tuyệt vời đã sẵn trong dòng Allen Roundheads. Tôi có đuợc con con trống thuộc dòng “vuơng gia” Mahoney Gull qua tình bằng hữu với một nguồn mà theo tôi biết chưa từng nhuờng một cọng lông gà họ cho ai. Tôi pha con này vào mái dòng
Allen Roundhead. Gull có chân trắng và vàng, ô tía, Lông to bản, rất dài và cọng cứng như xuơng cá voi. Với phẩm chất đó con gà có thể đá nhiều trận một mùa mà lông vẫn tốt. Lứa đầu mạnh, gai góc và tuyệt đối lì. Tôi cản vô lại nhánh Roundheads, đem đá, thử nghiệm. Mỗi năm bổn này mỗi tiến bộ cho đến khi tất cả phẩm chất cũ của con Allen Roundhead trở lại và đuợc hỗ trợ them cái tánh chịu đựng và sức mạnh khiến con gà chiến đấu thêm kiến hiệu tại bất cứ giai đọan nào trong cuộc đấu. Tôi đem chúng đi đấu và khá thành công trong vài năm và
theo rõi sát, tôi nhận thấy rằng khả năng tấn công mau lẹ và kiến hiệu ở bất cứ khía cạnh nào của nó có thể cải thiện. Cái đặc tính tuyện diệu này có trong dòng mái của dòng Allen Roundheads, dòng Grist
Gradys. Dòng này có giữ trong chuồng gà gốc, tôi châm cái máu tuyệt diệu của dòng gà cũ đã đuợc tin tuởng vào. Rốt cuộc tôi đã khóa đuợc một giống gà chứng minh là đúng nguồn, con gà chiến đấu với chiều sâu bằng những khả năng mà tôi đã nhắm khi tạo nó đến mức đáng kể mà không bị mất những phẩm chất cốt tủy khác. Đây là một lai tạo thành công, đánh kiểu gì, tại bất cứ giai đọan nào. Chiến công ngòai truờng đã chứng minh điều đó. Kế đến dùng trùng huyết và cận huyết với cá tính vuợt bực trong 12 năm qua, cho tới lúc giống gà đã thuần từ thể đến thế, những phẩm chất này đã đuợc đóng mộc vào dòng gà.
Gà Alabama Roundhead màu sắc cũng như cách đá tuơng tự như Allen Roundhead; gà điều chân trắng hay vàng, đôi khi có gà vàng hay điểm chút bông; mòng lá hay dâu nhỏ, mái mầu lúa chin hay nâu nhạt, chân đôi khí có chân xanh hay chân
chì . Chân xanh hay chì lấy từ dòng Redquill trong họ Gradys; mòng lá từ the Gulls và Gradys. Tuy vậy đa số vẫn là mòng dâu nhỏ chân trắng hoặc vàng, và gà điều ô.
Tám năm qua tôi thuờng đá ở Memphis, bang Tennesse, đá chung với Bruner và Herron. Bruner giữ vinh dự làm mọi công việc từ chuồng gà đến sới gà. Tôi coi Bruner như giám khảo gà và coi như tay nuôi gà cự phách nhất miền nam. Bruner biết nhìn con gà, nếu tất cả có gì không đúng ông ta sẽ nhìn ra cách đây nhiều năm và bỏ. Ông ta thử tất cả những con gà thua, chúng cũng phải hay, nếu không ông ta cũng chẳng dùng dòng gà.
Ông Bruner nhân giống Alabama Roundheads muời năm qua và giúp tôi rất nhiều để mang giống gà này đến mức tuyệt hảo hiện nay, bằng cách chọn gà nọc qua tài nghệ tại truờng gà, ông nuôi, dợt và cầm đá dòng gà này nhiều hơn bất cứ ai, biết chúng tuờng tận. Tóm lại coi như ông ta sống trong chuồng với bọn gà đó nhiều năm qua.
Los Angeles, Calif., Aug. 24, 1927.
Mr. H. H. Cowan,
Riverton, Ala.
Friend Cowan:—Feeling certain you would like to know how the twelve cocks you sent me at the beginning of last season, fared, it is with great pleasure that I am able to send you about the best report of any individual shipment that has ever come west.
These cocks were not “coddled” in the least, as is self-evident in the fact that these 12 cocks were fought 31 times in the short space of one fighting season. Upon their arrival they entered 4×12 foot scratch pens, and the only time they came out of them was to enter the cock house. In fact, they spent almost as much time in a 2×3 conditioning coop as they did elsewhere. This sort of treatment is the supreme test of moral courage of a game cock. Lord deliver me from the “temperamental” kind that easily go coop stale! Of all the discordant, unmusical sounds that can greet a cocker’s ear is the hoarse hen-like song of a cock that has lost his nerve.
Taking it for granted that I have mistreated this splendid bunch of cocks, that they met nothing but conditioned opponents, that I was unable to pick easy matches for them—yet these twelve cocks participated in 31 battles, winning 24, losing 7. The remaining five cocks are sound of wind and limb and promise to boost this already splendid record the coming season.
Gone are the days when a good conditioner could take a bunch of mediocre cocks and whip combinations whose only redeemable asset was their sporting blood. It now behooves us to turn our attention for superiority to the brood yard. One of the chief features that prompts me to prefer your cocks to go for my money, is their plumage. I am afraid that we American gaff fighters do not take into consideration the protective, armor-like advantage which a properly feathered bird enjoys. The Mexican slasher fighters have long since learned to appreciate it. Any person having possessed a cock that has been fortunate enough to win several battles will testify that he had wiry, tough plumage. Any brittle feathered cock, loses with his feathers, both offensive and defensive qualities—and, mister, a cock needs both to become a multiple winner. Was out to pens yesterday and the wing feathers, while frayed, were whole; speaks mighty well for your cocks after four and five trips to the pit.
I am indeed glad to hear of T. K. Bruner’s return to the game, because when we lose one like him we have lost a scholar and gentleman. I feel that these 12 cocks were materially aided in making such a splendid record by a couple of pairs of gaffs which J. W. Wisecup made especially for them after seeing the first few “strut their stuff.” By the way, these gaffs look like a cross between a Cincinnati and a jagger.
I trust that the order for more cocks which I sent you towards the latter part of last season has been transferred to your shipping list and that I head the list of those you already have booked for 1927 delivery.
Trusting this finds you and yours well, and that I hear from you relative to some cocks for the coming season, I beg to remain, with sincere esteem, Very truly yours,
DR. W. P. CARTER.
Mercedes, Tex,. Oct. 30, 1927.
Mr. H. H. Cowan,
Riverton, Ala.
Dear Mr. Cowan:—According to my records I got nine cocks of you breeding this season and I give you the record of all of their fights as follows
Nine cocks won 34 and lost 5 fights.
Mr. Bruner, your fighting partner, may be right about the game being harder in Memphis, but I have had to fight top cocks with all your cocks; and all who have come down to this country—and a lot of them have been to mains in Memphis—say they are as hard to whip here as anywhere on earth.
They were a real bunch of fighting cocks, and if Mr. Bruner had been fighting them he probably would have won more than I did with them.
I can’t ship you back the little pumpkin-colored cock, as I fought him once too often; but it was a fluke that killed him. He fought every battle alike— would stay away and dodge the other cock a couple of times, then grab him and kill him the first pitting. But this time, as the other cock went over him he hit him a brain blow and took the top of his head off. The old Mexican who trains part of my cocks has him buried in my orange grove with a head-stone with his name on it. A lawyer here who has Sid Taylors from Gay was talking about the little cock yesterday. He is from near Memphis and is a lover of game chickens. He said: “Of all the game cocks I have seen fight, I considered that little cock by far the best.” The stag you shipped me last year has developed into one of the finest looking cocks I have ever seen, and I believe he is as good as he looks. From the trio I got from you year before last, have fought twelve fights and lost two. I consider them all extra good and I have about a dozen of them. One of the stags I have fought twice against a cock, the next time against a stag, and he never got a scratch. He fought exactly like the little pumpkin cock. You have never answered me about the refusal on all the cocks you sell inthis country. I don’t care to fight against them.
Yours truly,
H. W. ALLEN.
(Note: The pumpkin cock mentioned in Mr. Allen’s letter won three times in the hands of Mr. Bruner during 1925, and eight times the following season of 1926-27 for Mr. Allen, making his record eleven wins before he was killed.—H. C. C.)
*****
Well, boys, here is where I get on the caboose. Cowan has told the story and has the nerve to ask me to write the balance of the story; but I am going to fool him and add to his story where he left off, and thereby stay in the good graces of our editor.
You might say I connected up with the Alabama Roundheads by chance or accident. About ten years ago a former friend presented me with a yard of fowl that had been presented to him by Cowan. Afterwards I fought several cocks bred from them, one of which was one of the most wonderful fighting cocks I have ever seen. He was as smart as a whip, had blinding speed combined with a deadly heel and perfect judgment of distance. I bred this cock on my yard and, in fact, he was bred turn about by Cowan and myself until his death. He produced wonderful fighting cocks in his sons, and his daughters have produced just as good sons as their brothers were. We have bred as closely as possible to retain as much of this cock’s blood in our fowl as possible, and even today Cowan’s brood yards carry from one-quarter to fifteen-sixteenths of this cock’s and his mother’s actual blood. All of our brood cocks for the last ten years have been selected not only from their own, but also their brothers’, performance in the pit, and the hens on each yard have always been full sisters. In this way we felt we would be able to produce cocks of uniform style, conformation, action and cutting ability. In the past five years I have fought practically every cock both Cowan and myself were able to walk of this family. I mean up to the close of the 1925-26 season. I found them to come uniformly good and that they showed up much better with gaffs on than with muffs, which of course was due to their superior cutting qualities. From the record of these fowl in the pit, I feel fully repaid for all the time and thought I have devoted to them.
To a real lover of game cocks there is no greater pleasure than to step into the pit with a cock you know to be desperately game, one that will go off fast, one that will cut with deadly effect, one that will when wounded (apologies to “Tan Bark”) throw all caution to the winds and close in to kill by striking harder and oftener than the average opponent, so long as he has his feet under him.
During the Memphis Tournament held on the Island in January, 1924, I met the Smith-Dejean entry at the 5.08 weight with one of their wonderful Smith Blues, a winner of several battles. He met one of our Alabama Roundheads that I had selected as a brood cock. Dejean was taking all bets and for a time it seemed he was right, as his cock broke my cock’s wing, knocked out one eye and rattled him. Dejean was offering bets of 100 to 10 with no takers as we pitted for the last time. As the cocks came together our cock rose or jumped up, catching and killing this great Smith cock stone dead. Dejean, without stopping to catch his breath, changed his tune from “100 to 10” to “the best cock won,” and his pitter (Courtois) chimed in with, “He is dead—dead—dead.” This cock proved the old saying that a game cock is never whipped until dead.
I retired from the combination at the close of the 1925-26 season and, desiring to place my brood fowl where they would be appreciated and cared for as well or better than I could, I presented Cowan with all of my best brood fowl except two small yards. One of these I presented to another friend, and the other I retained to play with and keep from getting lonesome.
I have just recently spent a week with Mr. and Mrs. Cowan at the home of the Alabama Roundheads and, boys, I wish everyone of you who love Roundheads could have been with me; you would have seen a picture you could never forget. He had at his home over 250 head of as fine game fowl as it has ever been my pleasure to see. Most of these, of course, were youngsters just brought in from his free range brood yards. All of them were bred from cocks that have fought and won in the fastest company of this country. Cowan told me to take my pick of anything I saw and liked, but the trouble with me was I liked all I saw and, being hoggish, wanted them all.
While there we drove between 50 and 100 miles looking at fighting cocks on their walks and his numerous brood yards. Riverton, Ala., is located in the foothills of Northern Alabama, which is an ideal place for the proper raising of game fowl. Every brood yard and most of his walks are located on a hill with running water, either with a spring on the place or a small stream running through it. Cowan has just completed his new home, which is located in the center of a ten-acre tract. He has a nice, comfortable home and has every facility for properly taking care of his fowl when brought in from free range walks and brood yards in the wilds of Northern Alabama. He has his yard at home divided into two sections. In one section he has cock houses, stag pens and medium size brood pens for single mating. The other section is used as a range for the young fowl that are not properly developed. On bringing in the fowl from free range brood yards, Cowan personally goes over each bird to see that they are perfectly formed and immediately isposes of all that do not come up to his standard. He has been doing this for years now, and it has resulted in his fowl coming as near perfectly shaped as they can come.
In conclusion I want to say that the Alabama Roundheads are game, sure-cutting fowl, free of disease, well shaped, well balanced, and with the strength and stamina to go the limit when necessary. I expect there are many other strains of game fowl as good as the Alabama Roundheads, but I have never seen any better. I have also found that they will produce a higher percentage of first class cocks from one yard than any other strain I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. To produce such fowl they must be given the care and attention such fowl deserve.
Last, but not least, I want to say in dealing with Hugh Cowan one can absolutely depend upon what he tells you about one of his chickens, as he stands squarely behind them at all times.
(Signed) T. K. BRUNER.
November, 1927.
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