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THE SPORTSMAN'S LIBRARY

EDITED BY

SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, Bart., M.P.

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THE LIFE OF A FOX

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF

AND

EXTRACTS

FROM THE

DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

BY

THOMAS SMITH, ESQ.

LATE MASTER OF THE CRAVEN HOUNDS, AND AT PRESENT OF THE
PYTCHLEY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

A l^EW EDITION fVITH THE AUTHORS ILLUSTRATIONS
AND COLOURED PLATES BT G. H. JALLAND

EDWARD ARNOLD

Publtsfjer to tfje Enita ©ffice
LONDON NEW YORK

37 BEDFORD STREET 70 FIFTH AVENUE

1896

INTRODUCTION

More than eight centuries have rolled by since the attention
of that keen sportsman, William our Conqueror, was drawn
to the excellent hunting to be enjoyed in the land watered
by the Avon, the Stom', and the Test, which caused him to
mark off the New Forest as a royal chase, and ensure its
preservation by laws of merciless severity. Never, since that
distant time, has Hampshire lost its sporting pre-eminence
among the southern counties ; in spite of changing fashions
and altered tastes, it still remains a perfect microcosm of
English field sports. Fresh developments, indeed, have only
served to bring out new points of excellence in this favoured
county, for it is here that the latest refinement of modern
sport — angling for trout with the dry fly — had its origin and
may be enjoyed in the greatest perfection. The Normans,
perhaps, had no time or mind for mere games ; war, and the
mimicry of war, were their only pastimes, except the sport of
kings. But with the establishment of civil peace and in the
leisure afforded by growing wealth and security, Hampshire
men applied themselves to excel in games of strength and
skill. Hambledon disputes with Mitcham, in Surrey, the
honour of having been the cradle of the premier British game,
cricket ; and the world admires the ease with which, in these
latter days, the men of Hampshire have applied themselves
to golf.

Little wonder, then, that such a county, so rich in
resources, and such a people, so ready to turn them to
account, should have produced an abundant sporting literature.
When the project of the Sportsmcai's Library was about to be

vi THE LIFE OF A FOX

carried into effect, it was to Hampshire that its Editor turned
first, and the earhest volume of the series is the work of a
Hampshire squire.

Stat magni nominis umbra — it would be difficult to hit
upon a more thoroughly English name than Tom Smith. It
was borne simultaneously by two celebrated sportsmen in
Hampshire, namely, Thomas Assheton Smith of Tedworth
and Thomas Smith of Hill Place. Each was a master of
hounds for many years, and each had a whip called John
Sharpe ; so it is not sui'prising that confusion was common
between the two Tom Smiths and the two John Shai^pes.

The author of the following works was Thomas Smith,
who lived at Hill Place, near Droxford, when he became
master of the Hambledon Hounds in 1825. He hunted this
country till 1829, when he took the Craven ; afterwards
becoming master of the Pytchley, at the time when the other
Tom Smith was hunting the Quorn. In 1848 he took the
Hambledon hounds a second time.

Now although, as has been shown, Hampshire has always
been a hunting country in historic times, and probably long
before them, it does not carry a high reputation among
modem fox-hunters for the quality of its sport ; it is far
from being one of the flying countries. But in the Hamble-
don, Tom Smith hunted the best of the shire, and he certainly
managed to show some wonderful sport in it. His perform-
ance in the Craven country, killing ninety foxes in ninety-
one days hunting, is referred to with pardonable complacency
in the preface to The Diary of a Huntsman ; and, in fact,
taking into account that it was achieved in what is notori-
ously one of the worst scenting countries in Great Britain,
consisting in gi*eat part of Avoodland, this is a record which
none but a first-class workman need attempt to emulate.

It is true that Tom Smith's method was not one on which
everybody could look with favour. It used to be said that it
was not the hounds that found a fox, but Tom Smith who
found it for them, and, having found it, he hunted it for them

INTRODUCTION vii

also. "If I Avere a fox,"" said Mr. Codrington of the New-
Forest, " I'd sooner have a pack of hounds behind me than
Tom Smith with a stick in his hand.'' But it is just this
intimate knoAvledge of the habits of foxes and instinctive
sympathy with their nature, that renders the Life of a Fox
ahnost as interesting as if, as the title-page asserts, it really
had been " wTitten by himself."

As Nimrod, in his Hunting Reminiscences^ has given what
was probably a very faithful appreciation of Tom Smith in
his capacity of M.F.H., it may be permitted to make the
following extracts from that well-known work : —

Having seen a good deal of Mr. Smith in the field, and heard
more, I hesitate not in calling him a very wonderful performer over a
rough country ; and although not what I call an elegant horseman —
his seat being looser than I like to see it — no one can dispute his being
a good one. Indeed everybody allows that, on a middling nag — and
his have not been " from Alceste's royal stalls supplied " — he has few
equals. He has not had, like his namesake, the means and opportunity
of picking the best. However, I will go so far as to assert that, if I
were asked for a subject to enable an artist to represent upon canvas
the often-talked-of phenomenon of " a rum one to look at, but a devil
to go," I should say, " Take Tom Smith's hog-maned black mare, with
himself upon her," that is to say, if the said black mare be still in the
land of the living. Believe me, reader, I mean no disparagement.
On the contrary, as the bad carpenter never has good tools, so those of
the more skilful one generally perform their office. I repeat, then, that
Mr. Smith of the Craven is — all things considered — a surprising man
across a country.

I have a more difficult task now to perform in drawing the character
of this extraordinary huntsman, for extraordinary he certainly is, and
in some respects unequalled by any man who has come under my
observation in the character of a Master of Hounds, hunting them
himself. And in what consists this striking peculiarity .'' I answer,
first, in an enthusiastic zeal for, and an unsubdued spirit in, the pursuit
of fox-hunting, which have carried him on in an almost uninterrupted
prosperous course from the period when, as a schoolboy, he followed
the hounds on his pony, to that which found him hunting the second
best country in England. Secondly, there are features in Mr. Smith's
character as a huntsman that appear to be peculiarly his own, and
for which I have reason to believe the hunting world give him full

viii THE LIFE OF A FOX

credit. The sort of intuitive knowledge he displays in regard to what
is called " the run of a hunted fox " may be said to border upon instinct.
At all events, it is such as I have never seen or heard of in any other
huntsman ; and when we read in the preface to his book of his having
killed ninety foxes in ninety-one days in the Craven country, we might
almost say one half of them were killed by his hounds and the
other half by himself. Then what is my opinion of Mr. Smith as a
huntsman .'' It is told in a few words. He has proved that he can kill
foxes with any man in England, and his having killed so many good
old ones in his Hambledon country, and still more of all sorts in the
Craven country, notoriously a bad scenting one, makes good the
proverb that " handsome is that handsome does." Still I am compelled
to say I am not a general admirer of Mr. Smith's system of hunting
hounds — the system at least which he pursued when I saw him in the
two countries above mentioned. There was too much wildness in his
proceedings, too much of the man, if I may be allowed the expression,
and not enough of the hounds, to satisfy a lover of hunting. I admit
that there was something enthusiastically cheering in seeing him dash
through a strong cover, come out of it with the leading hound and,
with hat in hand and cheering halloo, ride away with the few couples
that came next, apparently thinking nothing of those left behind.
But where was his eye at this time ? — on his hounds .'' — often not, but
forward to some point which his intuitive knowledge of the line foxes
take induced him to believe his had taken ; and six times in ten he was
right. But the question is, Is this the way a pack of hounds should
get away from a cover with their fox .'' In my humble opinion it is not.
It is not doing the thing altogether in a workmanlike ^ style, or in that in
which fox-hunting should always be done. To carry on a scent with
safety, the body of the pack should do the work, and this never can be
the case when a few couples get away ahead, and the rest become blown
in getting up to them. Neither is this system altogether favourable to
sport. Foxes hallooed away and ridden after in this manner are very
apt to run short, either from fear or from want of wind, a fact proved
by the experience of woodland foxes generally standing longer before
hounds than those found in gorse covers, because they most commonly
have a chance to go quietly away. What is called bursting a fox, and

^ "Workmanlike" it surely was, if the object of hunting be, as is
commonly supposed it is, to kill foxes in the open. Nimrod should
have used the epithet "artistic." But even from that point of view,
there is something to be said in favour of Tom Smith's system, in a bad
scenting country, by those at least who prefer a short gallop to puzzling
out a cold scent over leagues of plough. — Ed.

INTRODUCTION ix

hunting him to death, are very different operations ; and on this subject
I can state an incident to the point which I witnessed with Lord
Kintore's hounds in Scotland. We had run a fox about twenty minutes
into a small cover, whence we viewed him breaking away again. " Pray
help Joe to stop the hounds," said Lord Kintore to me, blowing his
horn at the time, " let him get well away and we shall have a run ! " He
did get well away, with the body of the pack on his line ; and the
result was a beautiful forty minutes, and his brush is now in my view.
I call this fox-hunting.

Let me not be supposed to have the least intention of detracting
from the merits of Mv. Smith as a sportsman and a huntsman. The
man who can kill ninety foxes in as many days, and in what Mr. Warde
pronounced to l)e the worst scenting country he ever had to do with,
must be allowed to be both one and the other. He had his system, and
he found it answer ; my only object in alluding to it is the desire that
it may not become a precedent for those who come after him, and who
may in vain attempt or expect, by similar means, the like success.

The Hambledon is certainly the best of all the Hampshire countries
for hounds, unless it be the New Forest, and I saw a splendid run over
it in Mr. Smith's time, of seventeen miles from point to point, without
entering one cover, and the first fourteen without a cast ; and in the
same season he had one of the most remarkable runs that the annals of
fox-hunting record, the description of it by Mr. Smith reminding one
of the fox-hunting of olden times. The fact was, his foxes in those
days took a lot of killing, and for this reason ; previously to his taking
the countiy, they had not been '' killed down," as we term it, and the
consequence was, a large portion of good old foxes able to stand before
hounds. ... I always admired Mr. Smith's conduct towards his field
— firm without being offensive. . . .

I cannot dismiss my notice of Mr. Smith, as a master of hounds,
without offering a few remarks touching his book. I was disappointed
in finding it so short. The announcement of the Diary of a Huntsman,
— and of a huntsman of such long experience as Mr. Smith, — led me to
believe I should get at least twice the information from it than is
contained in the two hundred and twenty pages of large type and larger
margin. I looked for the experience of some particular days, in which
particular events had occurred, some particular diificulties been over-
come ; in fact, some new lights, and those by which masters and hunts-
men, as well as others, might more clearly see their way in the dark
and intricate path they take upon themselves to pursue in the difficult
science of hunting the fox.

I think my friend — and in strict friendship I write this — is rather
hypothetical on the cunning and acquirements of foxes, the latter the

X THE LIFE OF A FOX

result of experience of good aud bad scenting days, etc. ; so, in my
opinion, he also is on scent. Hypotheses are inseparable from so un-
fathomable a subject as that of scent ; but to use the language of the
fox-hunter, rather than the philosopher, the closer they hold on to the
line, the better and more satisfactory they are.

Mr. Smith's chapter on hounds is the best in his book. It abounds
in sensible, well-considered observations, which may be useful to the
rising generation should fox-hunting last their time, of which at
present there must be doubts in all reflecting minds. At all events, it
is about to receive a "severe blow and great discouragement" in the
combined eifects of railroads, stag-hunting, and that abominably cruel
and cocktail practice of steeple-chasing. I am glad to find Mr. Smith's
opinion of the size of hounds for all countries agrees with that long
since made known by me, which is in favour of those of large size,
especially for severe countries. . . . Twenty -four inches for dog
hounds against any other standard, say I. . . . The chapter by Mr.
Smith on earth-stopping treats of a manner of performing this most
essential operation, not generally known, and still less generally
practised. If not carried on too far in the season, it has much to
recommend it in theory ; and as I am all for results in matters of
this nature, the experience of its good effects by Mr. Smith, in the
Craven country particularly, at once proves its usefulness in practice.
Open earths are the great curse of fox-hunting, and in no country in
which I have ever hunted has the evil been effectually done away with
by merely trusting to occasional earth-stopping. Should Mr. Smith's
plan of stopping at once for the season, or at least up to a certain period
in it, not prove injurious to the breeding of foxes, it ought to become
gener.il.

I have printed Nimrod's criticism on the Diary of a
Huntsman nearly in coctcnso, because it seemed more interest-
ing to hsten to the observations of a contemporary MTiter,
especially to those of the famous Pomponius Ego, rather than
to any retrospective remarks which might have occuiTed to
myself. In fact, in some respects, Nimrod's reflections are
nearly as instructive as the original work, read in the light of
what has happened since his day. Fox-hunting has survived
the fate which he suspected Avas to be brought upon it by
railroads, stag-hunting, and steeple-chasing, all of which we
have grown accustomed to look upon rather as allies of the
Noble Science than as enemies ; but Ave turn in vain to his

INTRODUCTION xi

pages for reassurance in respect to two dangers, of which he
did not foresee the imminence, namely, the spread of wire-
fencing, and poHtical jealousy of an exclusive sport. Let us
hope that fox-hunting may outlive these later perils, as it has
survived the earlier ones.

In one matter the present generation of sportsmen may
derive some consolation from Tom Smith's practical treatise.
They are accustomed, no doubt, to hear modern principles
and practice unfavourably compared with those of a bygone
time. In fact, we have all been trained to regard, say, the
thirties and forties as the golden age of fox-hunting. They
were very good, no doubt, but Mr. Smith did not consider
them equal to what had gone before. " It is true," he Elites
on page 199, " that old sportsmen beat men of the present
day ; they were trained, properly entered to hmiting, and were
taught to depend on their own eyes and ears," etc. But there
is not too much of this cctas parentum sentiment in Smith's
writing, just enough to reassure men of the present day
when they hear their performances depreciated by fogies, who
would be only too glad to exchange birthdays with them.
" The disappointment expressed by Nimrod because the
Diary of a Huntsman^ first published in 1838, did not contain
more episodes, was mitigated, perhaps, on the appearance five
years later of the Life of a Fox. In that lively little work
the author has made foxes from various countries recount
what were, no doubt, his o^vn experiences in pursuing them.

Tom Smith not only wrote so well that one is tempted to
regret he did not write more, but he was a pretty draughts-
man. There have not been many sporting authors whose
illustrations stand reproduction so well, for instance, as the
drawing of a good and a faulty hound (page 232), or the
finish to a good run Avith the Hambledon hounds, depicted at
page 252.

Tom Smith was something more than a fox-hunter; he
was a close and accurate observer of nature, and his description
of the vie intime of foxes was the outcome of a quick imagina-

xii THE LIFE OF A FOX

tion served by a keen pair of eyes, rather than the hypo-
thetical theorising to which Nimrod attributes it. Most of us
must have heard the question discussed whether dew rises or
falls. Smith solved the problem for himself (page 279), by
simply taking note of the fact that, while the top of a gate
may be covered with dew, the under side remains perfectly
diy. Needless to say that meteorological science confirms the
conclusion he arrived at independently, namely, that dew,
being condensed vapour, falls out of the atmosphere and does
not rise out of the earth.

In laying Mr. Smith's works once more before the public,
the Editor has made none but a very few verbal alterations in
them. In a few instances long footnotes have been incorporated
in the text, and the profuse use of italics, to which wTiters
and printers of sixty years ago were so prone, has been checked
by the substitution of roman t}'})e, as being more agreeable
to modern readers.

The story is current, how a certain noble lord, at present
holding important office in Lord Salisbury''s third administra-
tion, being anxious that his younger brother should prepare
himself also to take part in public affairs, was urgent that
the youth should not waste too much time over frivolous
literature. Seeing him one day deeply engrossed in the

perusal of a red - covered volume, Lord observed

reproachfully that his brother would be much better employed
in reading Lord Rosebery's L\fc of Pitt, which had just been
published.

" All right, old fellow ! " replied the younger man, " Fll
read that too, but hadn't I better finish this first ? It is the
Lrf'e ofFoxr

The book in question was Tom Smith's Life of a Fox.

In the present edition the author's drawings have been
reproduced in facsimile, and coloured illustrations have been
added by Mr. G. H. Jalland. Herbert Maxwell.

MONREITH, 1896.

CONTENTS

THE LIFE OF A FOX

Advertisement .

PAGE

3

Dedication

5

The Life of a Fox

9

^Vily's Stoky

11

Cock-Tail's Story

58

Craven's Story .

62

Pytchly's Story

68

Dorset's Story .

78

^V^arwick's Story

87

Chester's Story .

94

Devonian's Story

100

Berkshire's Story

105

Sandy's Story

110

Conclusion

133

THE LIFE OF A FOX

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF

B

:'»^^'

^Vily's Stohy.

Facing page 3.

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE ORIGINAL
EDITION

This little book may be looked upon as a curious
manifestation of the movement among Foxes.
The Editor ventures to send it forth, for an
agreeable reminiscence to many who assisted
in scenes which it describes ; for some Uttle
instruction to sportsmen who have had less ex-
perience than himself; and for the common
entertainment of all who hke to listen to the
way of the world in the woods.

Hill House, Hambledon,
10th June 1843.

To THE Right Hon.
CHARLES, EARL OF HARDWICKE,

etc. etc. etc.

My Lord, — It is customary in a Dedication to use the language
of fulsome adulation, even in cases where the writer and the
person addressed affect an equal abhon*ence of it. Adopting
a more simple, straightforward course, and one more worthy
of my name, for few foxes have run more straight, I will
candidly inform yom' Lordship that the love I bear you is
much the same as that borne to myself by the most venerable
hen now cackling in your farmyard, whose half-fledged brood
I have often thinned. But, my Lord, although I openly
acknowledge my aversion to the imfeathered biped species to
which you belong, yet the kinds and degrees of hatred are
various as the characters of those towards whom we entertain
it ; and while some, affecting to treat my persecuted race as
noxious vermin, destroy us by day and by night with snare,
trap, gim, and every other engine which their ingenuity can
devise, we have always found in your Lordship a fair and open
enemy, and one who disdained to have recourse to the cowardly

6 THE LIFE OF A FOX

contrivances above referred to. It is on this account, my
Lord, that I have done you the honour to dedicate to you the
following narrative of my eventful life.

Many are the happy hours that I have spent, some years
since, in the neighbourhood of your Lordship''s hen-roost in
Hampshire, and latterly many a tender rabbit, etc., have I
carried home from the plantations and fields which you now
so handsomely preserve for the use of myself and my kindred
at Wimpole ; this conduct on your part would have ensiu-ed
my lasting gratitude, could I forget how frequently I have
been driven by hound and horn from those treacherous coverts.
Although, from the above reasons, there cannot be friendship
between us, there may, I trust there does, exist some feeling
of mutual respect ; you and your brethren are not insensible
to those merits in our species which you affect to depreciate.
Fabulists and other writers, in all languages, have quoted the
sayings and doings of my ancestors, as lessons of instruction
for youth ; while the craft and cunning of your ablest states-
men have been, in many instances, entirely derived from our
acknowledged principles and practice. Our heroism in the
endm-ance of a violent and cruel death is equalled only by our
dexterity in avoiding it. It was only last winter that a cousin
of mine led a gallant field of two hundred horsemen over thirty
miles of the finest country in England ; and when at length
overtaken by twenty couple of his enemies, each one larger
and stronger than himself, he died amid their mm'derous
fangs, without suffering a yell or cry to escape him ! Yet
do the poets of your race celebrate as a hero, one Hector, a
timid biped, who, after a miserable run round the walls of

-•■ ■ '^-'-- "''

DEDICATION 7

Troy, suffered himself to be overtaken and killed by a single
opponent !

Such, my Lord, is the justice of historic fame in this world,
wherein thousands of men have written ; whilst I alone of my
tribe have been endowed with the power of thus using the
quills of that excellent bird, which has been for centuries the
favourite object of pursuit amongst the brave and skilful of
my race.

However determined I still may be to trespass upon yom*
Lordship's preserves, I will do so no longer upon your time.
Our walks in life are different ; 'tis yours to ride, 'tis mine to
run ; 'tis yours to pursue, 'tis mine to be pursued ; we shall
meet again in the field, the horn will sound the alarm, my
appearance wiU be greeted with a view-halloo that shall set
the blood of hundreds in motion ! Whether after that day
of trial I shall again sit amongst my listening cubs, and relate
to them how many peers, parsons, and squires lay prostrate
on the turf, and were soused in the brook while pursuing my
glorious coiurse, or whether my brush shall at length adorn
your Lordship's hat, fate must decide. — Meanwhile I remain,
your Lordship's obliged friend,

WILY.
Main Earth, 6tk June 1843.

THE LIFE OF A FOX

A FAITHFUL history of the Ufe even of a Fox may
be not without its interest, for, to the wise, nothing
in nature is mean, and truth is never insignificant.
I was prompted to ^mte this account of myself by
overhearing one day, as 1 lay in a covert by the
roadside, the following remarks by one of a party
who were passing by on their return home from
hunting a fox, which, as it appeared, the hounds
had failed to kill.

" Well, I'd give a good deal to knoAV what be-
came of our fox, — how was it he could have beaten
us ? There is nothing I should hke better than to
in\dte to supper all the foxes that have escaped from
packs by which they have been respectively hunted
to-day, and then persuade them to declare to what
cause they owed their escape. To tempt them
there should be rabbits at top, rabbits at bottom
and sides, rabbits curried, fricasseed, and rabbits

10 THE LIFE OF A FOX

dressed in every imaginable way, by the best French
cook."

The thought pleased me, and resolving to gratify
my own curiosity, I invited all of my friends who
had at any time beaten some pack of repute.

It was a fine moonhght night, in the middle of
summer, when ten of my guests, besides an inter-
loper, a stranger to us all, arrived at the place
appointed, beneath an old oak tree in the New
Forest.

For the foundation of my feast, nothing could
be better than the bill of fare projected by the
hospitable hunter ; but as I knew that my friends
would prefer everything au naturel, I dispensed
with the services of M. Soyer, and merely added,
for the sake of variety, some fine rats and mice, a
profusion of beetles, and a bird or two for the few
whose taste might be depraved enough to choose
them. Our repast being over, it was agreed, that
for our mutual instruction and entertainment, each
in his turn should with scrupulous fidehty relate by
what arts and stratagems, or by what effort of
strength and courage, he had eluded and baffled
those ruthless disturbers of our repose, the hunts-
man and his hounds. I was first called on to tell
the story of my life, and thus began.

I

iMiJAi— gi»wiJ?iFi; miBn^M—riMJiifai

WILY'S STORY

AM descended from the

ancient family of the

Wilys, and was born

on the 25th day of

INIarch, in the year

. Within three

or four weeks from
that day of the year
every fox of us in this
country is probably brought forth ; and it seems
especially designed that the female should thus
produce her only Utter in the year at a season
when our favourite food, young rabbits, are
most abundant. The spot in which I first drew
breath was a breeding-earth, carefully chosen by
my mother, in a well-known covert, called Park
Coppice, situated in the centre of the Hampshire
Hunt. It was not until the tenth day after my
birth that I first, saw light, or acquired sufficient

12

THE LIFE OF A FOX

strength to crawl with safety to any httle distance
round our nest. Had I earUer possessed the use
of sight, I might have strayed beyond my warm
shelter, and for want of sufficient strength to return
to it, have perished with cold. Thus Nature goes
on to care for us. I had two brothers and two
sisters, and we all throve and grew rapidly with the
nourishment of our mother's milk alone, until we
were six weeks old, when she began to supply us
with other food, such as rabbits, and rats and mice,
which she tore to pieces and divided amongst us in
equal shares, not however so much to our satis-
faction as to prevent our snarhng and quarrelling
with each other thus early over our meals. That
part of the earth where we lodged was between two
and three feet square, with several passages just
large enough for our mother to crawl along ; several
of these crossed each other, and of two that termin-
ated outwards one only was used by our mother,
who stopped up the other for times of emergency.
In these several passages we daily amused ourselves
with chasing each other round and round. On one
occasion we were interrupted in the midst of our
gambols by the sudden entrance of our mother,
who seized us with her sharp teeth, and carried us
to the back of the earth. It seemed that she had

WILY^S STORY 13

been watching outside, for immediately after this
we were alarmed by a sound hitherto unheard by
us. It was the voice of a man crying out, " Eloo
in, Viper ! fetch 'em out ! hie in there, hie in ! "
The Mght was instantly shut out by the intrusion
of a dog in a low and narrow part of the passage,
which compelled him to crawl along with his head
to the bottom. Our mother waited for him, where
she had the advantage of higher space, and as he
approached with his head thus low, she fixed her
teeth across the upper part of his nose and pinned
him to the bottom of the passage, where she held
him so that he could not bite her, which he would
have done had she attacked him after he had got
beyond the lower part, when he might have raised
his head up.^ ^Vliilst bleeding and howUng with
agony, he drew her backwards to the opening,
where she let him go. It was in vain that the man
tried to make him go in again, and so he left the

^ If this were attended to in making artificial earths^ it would be an
advantage to the fox, who might then defend himself better from dogs
of every sort; the great point is to have the entrance only Just suffi-
ciently high for him to get in.

They should be so arranged that the breeding places are situated
higher than the entrances, so that water may run away ; and when it is
necessary to make the earth on level ground, the breeding places should
be on the surface, and covered over with earth, so as to form a mound.

The places for breeding should be formed in a circle, in order that

14 THE LIFE OF A FOX

place, declaring his conviction that there were cubs
within, and that he would have them out another
day. He was, however, disappointed, for our mother
that night took us one by one to a large earth in a
neighbouring wood. We were now two months
old, and ceased to draw our mother's milk, which
we no longer needed, as we were able to kill a
rabbit or pluck the feathers of a fowl when she
brought it to us, as well as she. Some of these
feathers, which in our frolics we had carried to the
mouth of the earth, once betrayed us to a couple
of poachers, who had been lurking about the wood,
and who noticing them, procured a long stick and
thrust it into the earth, nearly breaking the ribs of
one of my brothers. When they pulled it out
again, they found the end of it covered with his
hairs. This satisfied them, and leaving us scrambling
and huddling together up to the back of the earth,
they went away, resolving to come back next day
with tools to unearth us, and expecting, as they
said, to sell us for half-a-guinea apiece.

they may be more easily arched, like an oven, without having wood
supports.

The passages should be floored with bricks or flints, to prevent
rabbits from digging.

It is desirable to have the low passages not more than seven inches
high, to exclude dogs. Four-inch work at the sides is sufficient,
except for a foot or two at the entrance.

WILY^S STORY 15

"'Twas a 'nation pity," added one of them, "we
hadn't brought my Httle terrier, Viek ; she would
have fetched 'em out ahve in her mouth, without
our having the trouble of digging, though they was
as big as the old 'un."

" Mind," said the other, " we beant seen, or else
the squire will gie us notice to keep off."

Their intentions were defeated ; for our mother,
who had been all the time watching their goings
on, anxiously waited for their departure, and no
sooner had night set in than she again removed us
to a gorse-covert hard by, and placed us in a nicely-
sheltered spot, where she herself had often lain
before. Here we were safe from poaching kid-
nappers, as it would have been impossible for them
to find us without being found out themselves
whilst searching for us. Let every mother lay up
her cubs in gorse, or close and thick coverts, rather
than in large earths, which are sure to be well
known to the fox-taker. We were now three
months old, and hving upon young rabbits and
mice, with which such coverts abound, feeding
also upon other food, such as black beetles ;
rabbits, however, were our favourite food,
and if we could find them, we cared for httle
else. They are fruitful breeders, particularly

16 THE LIFE OF A FOX

at this season of the year ; and a female has been
knoAvn to carry two distmct broods of young at the
same time, and to bring them forth three weeks
after one another. This astonishing fact I have
witnessed myself, and I have heard that the same
thing has occurred with the female hare. The
usual time of bearing is twenty-eight days. We
now began to venture out of the covert at night-
fall, or even before, being warned by our mother,
whenever there was danger, with a peculiar noise
that she made, hke " keck, keck " ; which we
no sooner heard than we were out of sight in
the covert, where we stayed until all was still

agam.

As we grew older we grew more bold and more
cunning ; and being four months old, ventured
farther abroad, even in the day-time, entering the
fields of standing corn, until it was cut down, when
the deeds we did there were suddenly brought to
light.

" Why, John," says the farmer, " there must be
some young foxes hereabouts ; look at the rabbits'
feet lying about ; and what's the meaning of all
these white feathers ? This comes of not locking
up the fowls o' nights. Never blame the foxes,
poor craturs ; but just go to the kennel, and tell

WILY^S STORY 17

Foster, the huntsinan, as soon as the corn is off, to
bring his hounds."

" Very well, sir."

" But mind, he ain't to kill more than one of 'em,
or else be hanged if ever I takes care of another litter."

All this was explained to me afterwards, for at
the time I did not understand much about it. I
only knew that the speaker was a very nice sort of
man, and never doubted that he meant everything
that is pleasant ; although I must say that his out-
ward looks, the first time I saw him, did not at all
take my fancy. There appeared to me something
so ungainly and unnatural — something so very
absurd, to see an animal reared up on end, and
walking about on his hind legs ; to say nothing of
what seemed his hide which hung about him in
such a loose and uncouth fashion, as if nature had
been sick of her job, and refused to finish it.

A few evenings after this I was crossing a field,
and watching some young rabbits, with which I
longed to become more nearly acquainted, when
suddenly a large black dog and an ugly beast called
a gamekeeper, jumped over a hedge. I immedi-
ately lay flat on the ground, hoping that I should
not be seen ; when, however, I found them coming
within a few yards of me, I started off, closely

18 l^HE LIFE OF A FOX

pursued by the villainous dog, and seeing that 1
should soon be overtaken, turned round, and shpt
away between his legs. I then made towards the
hedge, and the dog springing after me, I suddenly
turned round again, when he, trying to do the same,
tumbled heels over head, and nearly broke his
precious neck. INIy comfort was to think that he
was certainly born to be hanged, for he followed
me again as if nothing was the matter, and soon
overtaking me, wearied as I was with the sport (I
think they call it), he seized me by the back of the
neck, and jogged away with me in his mouth to
his master, who clapped me into his enormous
pocket, and carried me home. I was kept there in
a dark and dirty place, where all sorts of animals
had been kept before. There I remained, who by
nature am the cleanliest of animals, with my hairs
all clotted with mire and filthy moisture, and should
certainly have pei'ished of a certain loathsome sick-
ness, had not another gamekeeper luckily seen me,
and told my owner the certain consequence of
keeping me so. I was then taken out and put into
a hamper out of doors, ready to be carried by the
night-coach to London for sale. After trying in
vain to gnaw a hole for my escape, I set about
making all the noise I could, which, the night being

WILY^S STORY ** 19

still, reached the ears of my mother, who quickly
came and helped me with her teeth to finish the
work which 1 had begun, and so I got out and away.

Having thus suffered for my boldness, I scarcely
ever ventured out of the covert till dark, or nearly
so ; generally, indeed, I remained in my kennel the
whole of the day, unless I had not been fortunate
in procuring food the night before. 1 have seen a
female fox, when she had young ones, moving about
earher in the afternoon ; otherwise it is contrary to
our habits to do so. Night is more dear to us than
day, and the tempest suits our plans ; for man is
then disposed to keep quiet, and we venture more
boldly to approach his dweUings in search of stray
poultry, which are to be found abroad, not having
been driven into the hen-roost, owing to the neglect
of their owners.

I resolved to accompany my mother in future as
much as possible in her excursions, that I might
profit by her prudence and observe her ways. She
seldom went abroad till night, though sometimes
she would venture in the dusk of evening. Upon
one occasion I was much amused with an example
of her engaging tricks. It was a bright moonhght
night when 1 saw her go into a field, in which
many rabbits and hares were feeding. On first

20 THE LIFE OF A FOX

seeing her, some of them ran away for a few yards,
some sat up on then- hind legs and gazed at her,
and some squatted close to the ground. My mother
at fii'st trotted on gently, as if not observing them ;
she then lay down and rolled on her back, then got
up and shook herself; and so she went on till the
simple creatures, cheated by a show of simplicity,
and never dreaming she could be bent on anything
beyond such harmless diversion, fell to feeding
again, when she quietly leaped amongst them and
carried off an easy prey.

We were now fully able to gain our own sub-
sistance, but not the less would she watch over our
safety. One of my brothers having found a piece
of raw meat had begun to devour it, which she ob-
serving ran forwards, and as if in anger di'ove him
away from it. He became sick and lost all his
hairs, owing to poison, which I afterwards learnt
had been put in the meat. It was fortunate for us
that we had left the breeding-earth, for we must
otherwise have all been infected with the same
noisome disease, the mange. By first smelling it,
and then turning away, she taught us in future to
avoid anything of the kind that had been touched
by the human hand. Thus when we happened to
be smelling with our noses to a bait covered over

WILY^S STORY 21

with leaves, moss, grass, or fine earth, she would
caution us to let it alone by her manner of looking
about, as if she were alarmed and expected to see
our enemy the keeper. Sometimes the iron trap
would be seen ; and then she would lead us to look
at and smell it. Our noses, however, would not
always be a safeguard, for after the trap has been
laid some days, particularly if washed by rain, the
taint of the evil hand would be gone, and though
we ourselves, thanks to the watchfulness of our
mother, escaped the danger, hundreds of others, led
on by hunger, have fallen into the snare, losing
either leg or toes. Baits for catching stoats and
weasels, set upon a stick some fourteen inches above
the ground, we carried away without mischief from
the trap below. At about six months old we were
three parts grown, I and my brothers being some-
thing larger than our sisters, whose heads were
thinner and more pointed. The white tip of the
brush was not, let me remark, pecuhar to either
sex of us. I and one of my brothers, and also one
of my sisters, had it whilst the other sister and the
other brother were altogether without it, not having
a single white hair. That brother has been known
to profit by the exemption, when on being viewed
in the spring of the year the hounds have been

22 THE LIFE OF A FOX

stopped with the remark, " It's a vixen ; there is no
white on her brush." I have since observed tliat
old male foxes are of a much Hghter colour on the
back than are the old female ones, which are
commonly of a dark reddish brown ; and so it was
with my parents. Our sire never helped to furnish
us with food, although I have reason to think that
I often saw him prowhng about with my mother at
night ; instances, however, have been known where
the sire has discharged such an office after the
young had lost their mother. For a few weeks we
went on living a roUicking kind of hfe, and fancied
ourselves masters of the coverts.

There was a coppice of no more than two years'
gi'owth, which enabled me to enjoy the beams of
the sun as I lay in my kennel. This kind of shelter
we all of us choose, especially when there are no
trees of a large growth to be dripping do^\ai upon
us in wet weather. Here as I lay one morning,
early in October, I was roused from a sound sleep
by the noise of voices, and of dogs rushing towards
me. Away I ran, and had not gone above twenty
yards before I heard the report of a gun, and instantly
received a smart blow on my side, which nearly
knocked me down, breaking however none of my
bones, and causing only a little pain and loss of blood.

WILY'S STORY 23

" Ponto ! — curse that dog ; he's after him," cried a
voice, when the dog turned back, or else he must
certainly have caught me, as I had only power to
run a short distance into some thick bushes, where
I lay down and listened to the following rebuke.

" Y^ou young rascal, how dared you to shoot at
a fox — here, too, above all places ? Don't you know
that this is the very centre of the hunt ? Had you
killed him, you would have been a lost man, an
outcast from the society of all good people, a
branded vulpicide. Who do you think that has
the shghtest regard for his own character would
have received you after that ? "

" I really," replied the offending youth, " mistook
him for a hare."

"Yes, and if you had killed such a hare, you
should have eaten him, and without currant jelly
too."

Now, if an humble individual of a fox may
venture to give an opinion upon such a momentous
question, I will say that the practice of destroying
our breed for the purpose of preserving the quantity
of game, is, where it prevails, equally selfish and
short - sighted. For every fox thus destroyed
hundi'eds of men are deprived of a day's sport, and
sometimes more than that ; and if none of us were

JMiTiiiriiinilfTi (i III ii i"">fc 1 1 i > -> 'o*«*'i limiiii ~i i m

24 THE LIFE OF A FOX

spared, those hundreds of hunters would become so
many keen shooters — how could the game-preserver
then keep up his stock as he did before ? And
where Avould the wealthy capitalist rent his manor ?
After this unlucky adventure I resolved in future
to sleep with one eye open, and not without reason.
I had scarcely recovered from the injuries which I
had suffered, and had just settled in my kennel one
morning about daybreak, coiling myself up for the
usual snoose all day, and sticking my nose into the
upper part of the root of my brush — the reason by
the bye why the hairs there are generally seen to be
standing on end or turned backwards — when I was
startled by the voice of John Foster, whose name
has been mentioned before : " Eloo in ; e-dhoick,
e-dhoick, in-hoick, in-hoick." Disturbed by the
unaccustomed sounds, I rose upon my fore-legs, and
pricking up my ears listened for a moment or two,
when I heard the rustling of the hounds running
straight towards me, being led on by the scent that
was left in the track of my feet, which parts,
especially when heated by running, seem to leave
more scent than any other part of the body. Thus
the same organ becomes at once the means of in-
viting pursuit, and of escaping it. Off I went — the
awful tongue of an old hound ringing in my ear,

" -• ■*'w>w*»-^«»^«****^"''^'^-'fa'**-

WILY^S STORY 25

and having about it surely some charm ; for no
sooner had he opened than a score or two others of
the pack came rushing from all sides towards him,
and then such a horrible din as there was behind me.
I ran — I flew, I knew not whither — I crossed a road
in the wood — and then such frantic screaming and
shouting — " Tally-ho ! tally-ho ! " mixed with the
blast of Foster's horn, that I was almost mad with
fright, and must have fallen a victim to my savage
pursuers, had not my brothers and sisters been dis-
turbed by the clamour, and consequently been the
cause of the pack being divided into several parts,
thus enabling me to steal away towards the opposite
side of the wood, where I remained. JNIy state was
such that I could not be still, as I ought, and I kept
moving backwards and forwards and away from the
cry of the hounds, which at times hunted us in
several packs, then all together as they crossed each
other, and then again separated. This had gone on
for nearly half an hour when, to my great joy, they
all went away with a frightful yell, leaving the wood
and me miles behind them. I was congratulating
myself on my escape, and listening to hear if they
were returning, when I was startled by the sound of
steps approaching, and a panting, as of some animal
in distress ; it was one of my brothers, evidently

i*"lrn»iiiiii fcra<wMii^iMii1>iMinui>i HI

26

THE LIFE OF A FOX

more beaten and terrified than myself, and who, on
hearing something move and not knowing it was I,
ran back out of sight in a moment, and I saw no
more of him then. I remained where I was hidden
until I had partly recovered from my fears, and
not hearing the noise of hounds, had crept into
some thick bushes, where I lay quiet, when to my
horror I again heard the halloo of the huntsman,
who seemed to be taking the hounds round the
wood, with now and then the tongue of a single
hound ; then, all on a sudden the deep voice of
Sa^vyer, the whipper-in, calling, " Tally-ho ! there he
goes ; 'tis a mangy cub ! " In a minute every hound
was after him, and in full cry for a quarter of an
hour ; suddenly the noise ceased, and the fatal
halloo, " Whoop ! " was often repeated by the men
^vith " Tear him, boys ; whoop ! whoop ! " And
that was the end of my poor, mangy brother. They
then, not having seen any other of us for some
time, thought we were gone to ground, and went
away. Happy was I to hear that horn, which had
before caused me such terror, calling away the
hounds, that, to judge from their loud breathing as
they passed near me, were not loath to go, for it
was nearly ten o'clock, and the heat most oppressive.
They were mistaken in tliinking we were all gone

^VILY^S STORY 27

away, although my brother and sisters had taken
advantage of the hounds running in the open, and
had gone across to the gorse-covert, from which my
unfortunate brother just killed had often, in con-
sequence of his mangy state, been driven by our
mother. Again we had to thank that mother for
our safety, for at the time when we were all nearly
dead with toil and alarm, it seems she took an
opportunity of running across the wood in front of
the hounds, which soon got on her scent, and
followed her as she led them away for some miles
out of the covert. The huntsman then, convinced
that they had got on an old fox, as soon as the men
could stop the hounds, immediately brought them
back to the covert where they had left us, hoping
to kill one of us young ones.

It was not till some time after this memorable
day that we ventured to take up our quarters in
the wood again. Our mother thought it right to
take us away to a covert about tAvo miles distant,
where, as the hounds only hunted cubs at this early
part of the season, there were no young foxes ;
consequently, for that time, we were left undis-
turbed, and soon began to feel as much at home as
in the covert which we had left. Had it not been
for the shooters who frequently came with their

28 THE LIFE OF A FOX

spaniels, we should have even preferred it ; and they
so frequently moved us that we soon took little
notice of them, except by going from one part of
the wood to the other. Indeed, we were rather
benefited by them than otherwise, for we occasionally
picked up a wounded or dead bird, hare, or rabbit,
and after eating as much as we could, we always
buried the remainder, scratching a hole in the
ground with our claws, and covering it over with
earth. Even this made us enemies ; for when by
accident the dogs smelt it, and drew it out, the
keepers immediately told their master that if they
were not allowed to kill the foxes, there would not
be a head of game left.

Constant disturbance after this induced us to
return to the strong gorse where we had previously
been, and which was nearly impenetrable by shooters ;
but we had not been here more than a few days,
when, about ten o'clock in the morning, towards
the end of October, I was again alarmed by hearing
Foster the huntsman's now well-known voice :
" Sawyer, get round the other side of the covert ;
if an old fox breaks away, let him go, stop the
hounds, and clap them back into the covert again,
and then they will get settled to a cub. In-hoick !
e-dhoick ! e-dhoick ! " I listened with breathless

- TiasiiOiiutBimm:M0f'f\iM\

WILY'S STORY 29

fear, and soon heard the rusthng of hounds on every
side of me, then a sohtary shght whimpering, and
Foster's cheer, " Have at him, Truemaid ; hoick !
hoick ! " These sounds, frightful in my ears, sent
every hound to the same spot ; and I started from
my kennel, and got as fast as I could to the other
side of the gorse. I soon gladly returned, and
meeting an old dog-fox that at first I mistook
for a hound, dashed away on one side before the
pack had crossed my line. They ran by me, and
continued following the old fox, till I heard
" Tally-ho ! gone away " ; with a smacking of whips,
and " Hoick back, hoick back " ; then for a few
minutes all silent ; and then again the same terrible
tongues drove me from my quarters. They were
not in pursuit of me in particular, but running after
either my mother or one of the rest or all of us,
divided as they were into different lots. One of
these at last got fast on my track, and away I went
straight to the earth where we were born ; but to
my surprise and disappointment I found it stopped
up with a bundle of sticks, and covered over with
fresh earth ; for it was not in that state when I
passed by it the night before. I waited for a few
moments, and tried to scratch an opening ; but
hearing the hounds hunting towards me, I returned

1 si

30 THE LIFE OF A FOX

to the gorse, where they shortly followed me.
Owing to my being smaller than they were, I could
easily run a good pace in it, where they were obhged
to go slowly ; and running in the most unfrequented
tracks, I contrived to keep out of their way. At
times they were all quite silent, and could not hunt
my scent at all, owing probably to the ground and
covert where the hounds had been running so often
being stained. This dreadful state of things went
on for a length of time, till at last I heard them
halloo " Tally-ho ! tally-ho ! gone away." Shortly
after this the hounds left the covert, hunting after
the fox which was seen to go away, and which again
happened to be our mother. The men soon found
out their mistake ; and as they were some time
absent, they must have had difficulty in stopping
them, which at first I heard them trying to do.

JNIeanwhile I had been flattering myself that I
was safe, and that once more I had escaped ; but
quickly I heard them coming back very quietly, as
if intending again to hunt me. Previously to this
I had found a rabbits' burrow, into which I crept.
I was luckily, as it happened, too much distressed
and too heated to remain there, and left it, and
went to the opposite side of the covert. At this
time a cold storm of wind and rain came on, not-

WILY^S STORY 31

withstanding which an old hound or two got on my
hne of scent, and hunted it back the contrary way
to that which I had gone, till they came to the i.

rabbit burrow, where they stopped, and began bay-
ing and scratching with their feet at the entrance.

There can be httle doubt that hounds have a
language well understood by each other, and I
never can forget the noise made by the whole pack
as they all immediately came to the spot ; the men
hallooed " Whoop ! whoop ! have at him, my lads " ;
and one was ordered to fetch a terrier, and tools for
digging. During the time they were at this, I stole
away from the covert in another direction, and so
saved my life. It seems they soon found out that
I had left the earth, tried the covert over again,
and then went home, vowing my destruction
another day.

This was warning enough to prevent my remain-
ing longer in or near this covert for the present.
Venturing farther abroad, I returned to that in
which I had been disturbed by the shooters, and
there frequently picked up more wounded birds ;
I also found, in a field close by, part of a dead
sheep, which a shepherd had left for his dog. Some
of this I took away and buried. I was returning
for another bit, when the rough dog, which had

^

32 THE LIFE OF A FOX

just arrived, suspecting that I had purloined his
meat, flew at me the instant he saw me with such
fury that he knocked me over and over again with-
out getting hold of me. He then turned, and was
in the act of securing me with his teeth, when I
griped one of his legs and bit it through ; the pain
which he suffered prevented him from more than
mumbhng me with his teeth ; so I got off, and made
the best of my way to the covert that evening.

I felt next day that, bruised as I was, I could
not have escaped for ten minutes from a pack of
hounds had they found me ; I therefore lost no
time in reaching a main earth, into which I got
before the earth -stopper had put to ; but I had
scarcely done so when he came at daylight, and to
my great dismay stopped it up. I remained there
all day and till late at night, and no one came to
open it, and had I not contrived to scratch my
way out, I know not how long I might have re-
mained there, for I have reason to know that many
of us are stopped up in rocky earths and drains for
weeks, and starved to death, owing to the forget-
fulness or sheer cruelty of the stoppers. I have
heard such sad tales as — but just now it would
interrupt my story to tell them.

It so happened, my friends, that for some time

WIL\"S STORY 33

I was not hunted by hounds, and contrived to
extend my rambles till I was acquainted with a
great part of the country. Occasionally lying in
my kennel, if in an open covert, and hearing a
pack of hounds in full cry near, I moved off in an
opposite direction, but sometimes not without
being seen by some of the wide and skirting
hunters, who lost their day's sport in riding after
me and hallooing " Tally-ho ! " but I always kept
quiet in my kennel when I heard hounds in full
cry if I happened to be in a strong gorse- covert.
Thus passed off the greater part of the first winter
of my hfe.

On one occasion I was lying in rather an exposed
place by the side of a pit, in the middle of a field,
when I saw a man pass by on horseback, who, on
seeing me, stopped, and after looking a short time,
rode on. Till the noise of his horse's feet was out
of hearing I listened, and then stole away, which
was most fortunate, for in the course of a few
hours the hounds were brought to the pit, the man
having told the huntsman where he had seen me,
as he thought, asleep ; though we foxes, however it
may seem, are seldom otherwise than wide awake.

AVhen the month of February arrived, I showed
my gaUantry by going and visiting an interesting

D

34 THE LIFE OF A FOX

young friend of mine of the other sex in a large
covert some distance off, and there, to my chagrin,
I met no less than three rivals.

One morning we were surprised by hearing the
voice of Foster, di-awing the covert with his hounds,
and giving his pecuhar " E-dhoick ! e-dhoick ! kille-
kid-hoick (probably for Eloo-in-hoick) ! " It seems
that none of us felt very comfortable or much at
home here, and all must have left our kennel
about the same time ; for the hounds were soon
divided into several packs and running in full cry
in different directions. Fortunately, those that
were following me were stopped ; at which I
rejoiced not a little, having travelled twenty miles
the night before, besides my wanderings in and
about the covert. These travellings and wanderings
are the cause why so many more of us dog-foxes
are killed by hounds in the month of February
than in any other three months of the year. Two
dog-foxes which had come from a great distance
were killed by the hounds that day. I had had
reason to be jealous of them, as they had for the
last week or two been tracing and retracing the
woods in pursuit of a female incessantly each
night, until daylight appeared, when they were
obhged through fatigue to retire to their kennels.

WILY^S STORY 35

I recollect hearing, as I lay that day in a piece
of thick gorse, the following proof of the patience
and good temper of Sawyer, the whipper-in. The
hounds had followed a fox into a wood close by,
having hunted him some time in close pursuit,
when a jovial sort of person, who constantly rode
after these hounds, saw a fresh fox — being no other
than myself — and began hallooing to the full
extent of his voice. Sawyer immediately rode up
to him, and addressed him thus : " Now, pray Mr.

W , don't ye halloo so, don't ye halloo ; 'tis a

fresh fox ! " But still the person continued as loud
as ever. The same entreaty was repeated again
and again, and still he would halloo. At last
Sawyer gave it up as a forlorn hope, and left him,
just remarking, " Well, I never seed such an
uneasy creature as you be in all my Ufe." He
then followed the pack, which had by that time
left the cover in pursuit of the first fox, which
they had been running all the time. Yet we foxes
have reason to know that a more determined and
ardent enemy to us in the shape of a whipper-in
than this man never hved. It fortunately happened
for me that the weather now became very dry ;
for I was not unfrequently disturbed by these
hounds, and though the scent was not very good

36 THE LIFE OF A FOX

in this plough country, I was at times much more
distressed after being hunted than on former
occasions, and was often nearly beaten ; for it is
not in our nature to be moving in the heat of the
day, and not being so much inured to it as the
hounds were, I expected to fall a prey to their
able huntsman, who, when his hounds would not
hunt me, appeared to know where I was gone to ;
and very often, when all was silent and I thought
myself safe, brought them on without hunting, and
crossing the line I had come ; so that against him
and his clever whipper-in, I had, notwithstanding
the dry weather, enough to do to save my life.

On one occasion I had a most severe day's
work, for the scent was remarkably good. I was
lying quiet in my kennel, very unwilhng to move,
though I heard the hounds running a fox close to
me, which they very soon lost, as they could not,
or would not, hunt it. I thought this very strange,
as by the use of my nose I knew it to be a good
scenting day. It turned out that the fox was a
vixen, which had just laid up her cubs ; the effect
of which generally is, that the scent becomes so dif-
ferent that hounds, old ones particularly, appear to
know it, as if by intuition, and wiU not hunt it.
As I had not had more notice of their approach I

WILY'S STORY 37

thought my best chance of escape was to be per-
fectly still, — a plan often adopted by me since on a
good scenting day ; but it was of no use, for the
huntsman almost rode upon me in drawing the
cover, and I was obhged to fly when the hounds were
close to me ; however, after a long run, I most
luckily escaped.

The breeding season for game now came on,
and being still young I frequently was near being
tempted to seize an old bird as she sat on her eggs,
but the difference in the scent of the bird prevented
me. At length, when I had been prowling about
near a farmyard in which poultry were kept, one
night that I had not met with other food, I pounced
on a hen which was sitting in a hedge, but the state
she was in gave such an unpleasant taste to her flesh,
that after eating a httle I left it, and have never
since touched a bird of any sort when sitting. She
has at that time, indeed, but Httle flesh on her bones,
and I beheve that no old fox will take one for his
own eating, although a female may sometimes carry
one off*, when hard pressed for food for her young.
The same instinct which prevents hounds from hunt-
ing a fox with young, thus prevents much destruc-
tion of birds when sitting. It seems hke a design of
nature to save the race of birds that have their nests

38 THE LIFE OF A FOX

on the ground from being entirely destroyed by
ourselves, or by vermin, such as stoats and weasels.

Rabbits are too often the perquisites of the
gamekeeper, and the iron traps which he sets with
the pretence of catching them are the destruction
of hundreds of us. This might be prevented if the
master would only insist on these traps not being
employed at all, and compel the use of the wire
snake, and of ferrets to get the rabbits out of their
burrows.

Having by this time learnt from my mother all
that she could teach me, I followed her example in
many things. Amongst them I remarked, that on
a wet and windy night she almost always chose, for
various reasons, to lie in a gorse - covert. It is
generally dry and without droppings from trees ; it
is also more quiet and freer from the roaring of the
wind than when near to them. Besides this, we
are not so liable to be disturbed by the shooters,
and though we should be so, are out of sight. We
are also there out of sight of some of our trouble-
some feathered neighbours, the crows, magpies, and
jays, who would betray us when moving abroad
during the daytime. They are always moving with
the first appearance of daylight, and we are glad to
get out of their sight as soon as we can and go into

WILY'S STORY 39

our kennel, lest they should betray us to the
keepers, who are also often abroad at that time.
The worst is, that at times, when Ave think we have
got away from hounds which are hunting us, these
birds, by making a noise and darting doAvn almost
upon us, as they continue to do where we run along,
point out to the hunters exactly where we are.

It has often happened that I have been betrayed
by an old cock pheasant. No bird has a quicker
eye than he has, and directly he saw me he would
begin kuckupping, and continue to make this noise
as long as I remained near him, obhging me to
move away.

My hfe during the summer months was one of
almost uninterrupted pleasure. Naturally fixing
my headquarters near the part of the country
where I was bred, I would often ramble by night a
great distance, and frequently remarked with
surprise, as I crossed any line that I had taken when
hunted, the wonderful straightness with which I had
pursued it, as it was often in a direction where there
were no large woods or earths ; but I recollected
that I had the wind for my only guide, and went
as if blowni forward by it ; so that I could hear
whether the hounds were following me at a greater
distance than if I had gone against it ; and besides

****<^^w*fflM!i^t'1y) "^^^ww^ . ^ M

40 THE LIFE OF A FOX

this, it was more difficult for them to smell the
scent which was lodged on the ground over which
I had run, when blown away from their noses, than
when blown towards them.

One circumstance occurred to check my joy,
namely, the loss of my other brother, who had
accompanied me in one of my midnight rambles
into the adjoining country near Hambledon ; and
(for though so long ago as 1828, I well remember
it) we had been induced to swim across some water
to an island situated in Rookesbury Park, belonging
to ^Ir. Garnier, on which it so happened there was
a nest of young swans ; and although we did not
venture to touch them, the old ones were so angry
with us for our intrusion, that when we attempted
to quit the island they would not allow us to do so,
but continued swimming backwards and forwards
to show their anger. At length, as dayhght was
appearing, my poor brother was rash enough to
make a sally, and had nearly swum across to the
land, when, overtaking him, they commenced an
attack, and by flapping their wings against his head,
and keeping him under water, speedily drowned him,
just as a man came up to see what they were about.

They seemed to exult in their prowess, and
whilst they were proudly throwing back their heads.

WILY'S STORY 41

and rowing in triumph round their victim, I took
an opportunity of crossing the water on another
side and escaped, resolving never in swimming to
encounter the same risk again. Nothing worth
relating occurred until towards the beginning of
the following winter. It is true that I was often
induced to move and to quit the wood in which I
lay, owing to my being disturbed by the hounds ;
but as they never followed me far, and were stopped
by the whipper-in when I left the covert, it was
evident they came on purpose to hunt young cubs ;
I therefore took care to retire to a gorse-covert
near Sutton Common, where none were bred, much
to the regret of the owner, a Rev. Baronet, who is
one of our greatest friends, as no keeper of his
would dare to destroy a fox without pain of losing
his place. Here I remained quiet for some months,
till one morning I was waked by the noise of
Foster the huntsman ; and shortly afterwards the
whimpering of a hound told me that he was on the
scent left by my footsteps on my way to my kennel,
although it was where I had passed before day, and
several hours had gone by. I was led by the wind
that day to take them over a country seldom if ever
gone over by them before, namely, Wolmer Forest,
crossing one or two rivers, from extreme dread of

42 THE LIFE OF A FOX

this huntsman and his powerful pack. Whether it
was the water or the fences that stopped him, I
cannot say, but I suspect it was the latter ; although
a few years before nothing could have done it.
The hounds were at times running without him,
and it was in consequence of that, I think, that I
eventually beat him and escaped. In the course of
a few days I returned to the same covert, and had
not been there more than fourteen more when this
man's awful voice startled me again.

I was soon prepared for another run with a
north-east wind, which might have led me to take
the same line as before, but that I heard Sawyer
the whipper-in exclaim, " 'Tis our old fox, and he
went through the same holes that he did the last
time we found him." He gave the view-halloo
directly afterwards. I felt certain that they came
again thus soon determined if possible to kill me ;
and though frightened a little, I took care to keep
on without stopping to listen, as I had done before ;
so that I kept a good distance ahead of them, and
continued my best pace for many miles, crossing
Wolmer Forest into Sussex. I no longer heard
the hounds following me, and being much distressed
with fatigue, ran forward to very short distances,
and then turned either to the right or to the left,

WILT'S STORY 43

in order to baffle my pursuers. At length I came
opposite to some buildings, and seeing a large pile
of wood, crept in amongst it and lay down. After
listening for some time, I heard the cry of a few
hounds not far off; but the noise ceased just about
the spot where I turned down the road, and all was
silent for some time. At last I heard the voice of
Sawyer the whipper-in, saying he must take the
hounds home to the kennel if his horse would
enable him ; but that the huntsman's and the other
whipper-in's horses were both done ; and so they
were, for they never lived to reach their stable.

Having again escaped from that clever hunts-
man Foster and his pack, I determined at first to
remain in this part of Sussex. It was hunted by
Colonel Wyndham, whose hounds I soon had
reason to know were not less fatal than those by
which I had lately been so severely hunted. They
seemed to me to be quicker in their work, and to
keep closer to me when it was a good scenting day ;
although when it happened to be otherwise they
could not hunt me so long or so far as the other
pack had done. Once or twice when I was nearly
tired they left me, owing to the scent being bad,
and went to find another fox, when I believe that
Foster and his pack would have gone on longer, if

44 THE LIFE OF A FOX

not killed me. The pace they obliged me to go,
when hunting me over the hills, was terribly fast,
and very probably the cause of their not making so
much cry when in pursuit. Indeed they ran almost
mute, and at times got very near to me before I
was aware of their approach.

This I found was too dangerous a country for
me to remain in ; and so, when on another occasion
they found me, I ran into the Hambledon country,
not far from Stanstead Forest, where I fortunately
escaped, and finding myself in a wild part near
Highdown Wood, did not venture to return, feel-
ing sure that with the Colonel's quick pack and
blood-like horses, if they found me on a good scent-
ing day I must be beaten by them. However,
here was in store for me as great a trial of my
powers ; for it seemed that Mr. Osbaldiston's
hounds were just come for this part of the season
to hunt the country. One morning 1 heard Seb-
right's voice cheering on his pack, which, with a
burning scent, were running a fox like hghtning.
Suddenly there was an awful silence ; then Dick
Buxton's screech, and the " Whoop ! " soon followed.
For a minute or two only I heard a noise, as if
hounds were quarrelling, and that no sooner ended
than Sebright saying, "Now, Mr. Smith, this is

WILY'S STORY 45

the first real good scenting day we liave liad." 1
could stop no longer, but stole away, hoping not to
be seen ; but, my friends, fancy my horror when,
on stealing from the gorse on the open down, and
thinking that the rising ground would screen me, I
saw this famed pack and first-rate huntsman within
two hundred yards of me. I stopped for an instant,
but scorned to return into the gorse, so took away
across the hilly downs near Hog's Lodge, and crossed
the Petersfield road to Portsmouth, over the open
down for two miles, with the pack viewing me the
whole time, except a moment or two when I was
rounding the tops of the hills, then again they saw,
and swung after me down the steep sides of the
hills. I cleared the first fence adjoining the down,
and had scarcely got fifty yards when I saw the
whole pack flying over it after me, and at the next
fence I turned short to the right as soon as I had
cleared it. They were di'iven a httle beyond it before
they turned, which gave me a trifling advantage.
I now continued to gain ground in advance of the
pack, and though they never once were at fault, or
lost the scent for a minute, and went on several
miles across open downs into Sussex, still I kept
on, determined to save my hfe.

I had gone full nine miles as straight as I could

46 THE LIFE OF A FOX

go, and had just turned for the fost time to the
right, and was ascending the top of the highest
point of the down, when, to my gi-eat joy, I saw
the hounds stopping and trying in vain to recover
the scent, which was destroyed by my having run
through a large flock of sheep. They now could
not hunt the scent a step farther, though on the
middle of an open down ; and such was the dis-
appointment and chagrin occasioned by it to
Sebright, that he was heard by a friend of mine to
say, that if the squire would give him a thousand a
year, he would not stop to hunt a country, where the
scent was so soon entirely lost ; and that, until this
occurred, nothing in the world would have made
him believe that any fox could have run straight
away from such a pack as his, under such apparently
favourable circumstances.

I remained till the following season in this part
of the country, in a covert belonging to Sir J.
Jervoise, called the Markwells, when I was first
roused from my slumber by the voice of another
huntsman, INIr. Smith,^ Avho at that time hunted his
own hounds, known as the Hambeldon pack. It
was about one o'clock in the afternoon, in the
month of December, and fortunately I prepared

^ Tlie author. — En.

^ r.

^VILY'S STORY 47

myself for a day's work, for sure enough I had it.
When I first broke covert I took the open, and in
running had the wind in my face for about two
miles, then finding the new pack pressing close to
my heels, I turned short back with the wind,
which, most fortunately, as it appeared to me, was
now blowing in a direction straight to a large earth
that I had formerly discovered at Grafham Hill in
Sussex. The pace had blown the hounds, and the
great change, by turning back and down the wind,
caused them to stop for a minute or two ; and
although I soon heard them again hunting me, at a
pace not quite so fast, their perseverance induced
me to keep on straight forward. I had already
gone for about ten or twelve miles, when, crossing
a grass field near some buildings, I was startled
at hearing the noise of other hounds close by.
It was the pack in Colonel Wyndham's kennel.
A view-halloo, which came from one of his men,
made me continue to get on as fast as I could,
and by the time it was nearly dark I fortunately
reached the large earth at Grafham Hill. I had
not been there for more than a few minutes when,
lying with my head near the entrance of the earth
in order to breathe more freely, I heard the hounds
come up to the spot and try to get in, on which I

48 THE LIFE OF A FOX

retreated, but no farther than I was obliged to do,
according to the plan I always adopted when
distressed or nearly run down.

The distance I had run, straight ahead from
where I started, was found to be twenty-seven miles.
One of the four or five men who came in said that
they must have changed their fox when the hounds
ran through these large coverts. The reply was
that it was scarcely possible, as they never once
broke out of the road and rides, within which the
fox had kept during the whole time.

It was now dark, and the hounds had full forty
miles to return to their own kennel. I had reason,
however, to know that they stopped that night
half way, at the Drove Kennel ; for during the
night I had returned back as far as I could to
the place whence I came, and intended to remain
there ; but all the middle of the next day I heard
the sound of the horn which I had so often heard
during the severe run I had had the day before,
and which it appears was blown with the hope
of its being heard by two hounds that were missed
the night before, having come to the earth and
remained some time after the pack had gone away.
On hearing the horn I soon left my kennel, and,
though very stiff, was obliged to make the best use

WILY^S STORY 49

of my legs that I could ; for the pack, on theh*
way home, crossed the line I had taken in the
night, and were soon lieard running in full cry after
me. Glad was I to hear INIr. Smith order his men
to stop them ; for I must speedily have fallen
to them had they only been aware of my weak-
ness. One curious fact remains to be told, namely,
that the two hounds remained for three days in the
part near where they were left at the earth, and
found their way back to the kennel on the fourth
day afterwards. Now it is true that we foxes
easily retrace our way on all occasions, but it must
be recollected that we are often led straight by
having in view some point, a main earth, for in-
stance ; when that is not the case, on being pursued
by the hounds and guided by the wind, we notice
the different points as we pass, and choose that Hne
in which it appears least Ukely for us to be viewed ;
we thereby without difficulty retrace our hne the
same night, at least for some distance, unless too
exhausted to travel more than necessary to procure
food, when we remain near where the hounds have
left us. I have done this for a short time, when
the coverts and country to which I belonged have
been much disturbed by the hounds ; but invari-
ably returned the same night. Now the hound has

E

50 THE LIFE OF A FOX

enough to do when hunting us without taking
notice of the country which he passes over ; and
we must not assume to ourselves greater sagacity
than belongs to him, for I beheve that we are but
varieties of the same kind. I observe amongst our
party one who may have something to say upon
that subject presently.

I underwent another severe day's work in the
same country with another pack of hounds. In
consequence of finding plenty of rabbits in a covert
near the Waterloo Inn, I remained there for some
time, and my peace was undisturbed, until I was
roused one morning by the strange but fine voice
of Mr. King's huntsman, Squire, After running
round the covert a few times, I found that his
quick pack were not to be trifled with ; I there-
fore went straight away in the direction of Sussex.
They still pressed me on through the large coverts
there, and I left them in a wood, their huntsman
and his master, Mr. King, imagining that I had
gone to ground in a wood in Colonel Wyndham's
country — a mistake which happened in consequence
of my having crept into an earth that I re-
membered to have seen there, but which, when I
found that it was merely a rabbit earth, I left, and
went on. The hounds stopped there, but it was

WILY^S STORY 51

soon discovered that they would not he, and the
delay caused my escape, for I must otherwise have
been killed. It was a terribly severe day, for I had
been hunted by them more than twenty miles from
the place where they found me. A gTeat part of
the country I ran across was the same that I had
gone over in the previous year when hunted by
JNIr. Smith's pack, though the distance was not
so far by some miles. The great difference I
observed in these two packs was that the present
one were rather faster, and could not be heard so
plainly when running : this was in some measure
made up for by Squire's voice, which I so often
heard to cry " Whoop ! "

I was afraid to remain in these parts, so travelled
westward, until I reached a wood by the sea-side
near Southampton, and there, owing to the scarcity
of rabbits, was obhged to seek other food, often con-
sisting of dead fish, which I found on the shore. I
had more than once a narrow escape from being shot
by sailors, as they passed by in a boat at moonlight,
and was induced to leave this part also. Following
the sea -shore I crossed the Itchen Bridge, for I
had not forgotten my escape from the swans, and
would never trust myself again in water when it
could be avoided, and by degrees, as the spring

52 THE LIFE OF A FOX

came on, I got into the New Forest. Fortunately
for me the system of hunting in that part until
near the middle of May was discontinued by Mr.
Codi'ington, who then hunted it. He was an ex-
cellent sportsman ; and would never take an unfair
advantage of us, but left all to his hounds.

Although I had escaped during the winter
months from other good packs, it was doubtful
that I could have escaped at this season, when the
weather is sometimes very hot ; for although, as I
have observed before, the heat affects the hounds, it
is more usual for them to be moving about in it than
it is for us, and they therefore suffer from it less.

I passed this summer most agreeably, living
much on beetles, with which the forest abounds,
occasionally visiting the sea-shore to seek for dead
fish, and getting a fair supply of rabbits. The old
rabbits frequently laid up their young in the open
parts of a country, in the middle of fields, or any
where far from hedges, probably to be more out of
the way of stoats and weasels. The number of
nests of young rabbits that a single one of us
destroys is so enormous that it would seem to many
quite incredible. I got well acquainted with the
purheus of the forest in my frequent travels ; in
spite of which my feet were never tired by treading

WILY'S STORY 53

on hard flints, as they used to be in upper Hamp-
shire ; and, strange as it may appear, in that flinty
country I do not recoUect ever having had them cut
or made sore by them, even when I was pursued by
the hounds ; probably in some measure owing to our
quickness of sight, and to our not having to hunt
a scent, so that our attention is not diverted. I
beheve I owed to these very flints the salvation of
my life, as they obhged the hounds to go more
slowly over them, and thus afforded me more time.
The autumn had nearly passed, and being undis-
turbed by hounds, I flattered myself that I was safe ;
but my dream soon vanished ; for it appeared that
the only reason why they had not disturbed me was,
that they are not allowed to hunt in the forest so
early as is done in other countries. I was soon
alarmed by hearing at intervals Mr. Codrington's
deep voice, so unlike the style of the huntsmen by
whom I had been hunted in other parts. The
hounds appeared to understand it well enough, and
as they soon spread through the covert adjoining
that where I lay, I stole away to some distance,
where I remained within hearing of them. It was
a long time before they left the first covert, as it
happened to be one in which I had been moving
about when searching for food, and consequently

54 THE LIFE OF A FOX

these well -nosed hounds got on my scent, there
called " the drag." This fine old huntsman believ-
ing that a fox was near, persevered for an unusual
length of time in trying to find one, and owing to
one or two hounds occasionally throwing their
tongues, waited in an agony of expectation. At
length being led to the covert which I had just left,
they soon got on the hne which I had taken when
I came from my kennel two hours before, and which
they had great difficulty in hunting. By this time
I thought it right to leave the wood where I had
stopped. A man saw me go away, and hallooed
loudly, but still the hounds were not allowed to be
brought on ; and they continued a walking pace
until they got to the spot where I had waited, at
the extremity of the wood, and where, though at
some distance, I heard the cry of the hounds fol-
lowing me too closely to be despised by me as they
had hitherto been. It seemed that they Avere left
entirely to themselves, for I heard no men's voices
cheering them on, as in other countries when run-
ning in the same way. As they continued without
any stopping, I resorted to the only means then in
my power, and ran through a herd of deer, with
which the forest abounds. This plan succeeded,
and probably saved my life ; for when the deer

WILY^S STORY 55

heard the hounds coming towards them in full
cry, they came straight after me in the line I had
run, and so spoilt the scent which I had left.

I well recollect, a short time after this, overhear-
ing, as I lay in my kennel, the following conversation
between two men as they rode by : " What a pity it
is that INIr. Codi'ington is so silent when his hounds
are hunting their fox." " Well, I don't know that ;
for suppose now you saw some weasels hunting a
rabbit, do you think they would hunt it better if
some fellow was to keep on hallooing to them ? "
No reply followed the question, although I anxiously
waited to hear one. As far as I was concerned, I
regretted that more noise was not made, as it would
have assisted me, and not the hounds. The silent
system is, at all events, a most dangerous one for
the fox before he is found. I have had some narrow
escapes from these very hounds being brought to a
small covert or bog in this forest so silently that
they surrounded me before I was aware, and I have
with difficulty got away from them. Indeed, many
female foxes have thus been killed heavy with cub,
and in that state incapable of great exertion. Had
these females heard the huntsman's voice in time
they might have moved and run to earth, or shown
in what state they were, so that the hounds might

56 THE LIFE OF A FOX

have been stopped in time to save their lives. As
to the system of not assisting the hounds, I am sure
that every fox will agree with me in approving it.
Give me plenty of roads and dry fallows, or a few
deer or sheep, and even when the scent is good I
shall not fear to be killed by an unassisted pack.
Without such impediments a pack so educated
would be the most dangerous of all, and even with
them, if in the hands of a judicious huntsman.

This pack was (alas ! that I should say was, for
he is no more,) hunted by a kind-hearted and
excellent man, who has been heard to say, at a
moment when his hounds were running very hard,
and going hke Leicestershire — he being nearly
twenty stone — " I hope I shall not see them any
more till they have killed." Notwithstanding the
system just described, as many of my friends have
fallen victims to this pack as to any in this part of
the country. Nevertheless here I shall remain for
the present, and not go away until I am fairly
driven.

I now, my friends, conclude for the present the
history of my hfe, only omitting such important
events as may happen to come out in the course of
your own stories ; for I must now call upon you to
tell us what you have to say of yourselves.

WILY^S STORY 57

But hold hard there. Who or what art thou,
half-bred thing, that durst be shomng thy ill-breed-
ing with feigning to sleep, or with eating rabbit,
when thou shouldst have listened to the words of
thy betters ? Cock-tail, speak.

" Call me Cock-tail, half-bred, ill-bred, mongrel
cur ; but know that I claim kindred with your
noble selves."

All. " Audacious dog-face ! "

" Honour ye the Cock-tail ! Cock-tail had a
grandfather ! "

All. " Impossible ! Never ! "

" Listen, then, to facts ; facts are stubborn things,
and if my story do not please, it may at least sur-
prise you."

COCK-TAIL'S STORY

T is known, I believe,
that half-bred animals
do not reproduce their
kind, and if it were
otherwise innumerable
would be such kinds.
My mother's father was
a fox. Her mother
was a well-bred terrier in colour much hke your
own. She belonged to a man who lived near
Harborough, in I^eicestershire, and was valuable
to him for her extraordinary talent in kiUing
rats and mice, as well as for the use which
he occasionally made of her in poaching at night.
Wishing to procure a mixed breed between her and
a fox, he took her one night, at a particular period
of the spring, to a certain spot in a wood which
he knew to be much frequented by foxes, and
having fastened her against a tree, left her there

COCK-TAIUS STORY 59

till morning. On the following night he removed
her to a short distance from the spot where she
was left the night before. After doing the same
for several nights he took her home, and in nine
weeks after that she produced four young ones, all
of which are now hving, and much like a fox. My
father was a brown terrier, and my mother may be
seen at any time, as she is fastened up by a chain
in the inn-yard at INIarket Harborough. The hair
on her back and sides is thick, and stands nearly
upright like that of a fox. The hairs upon the
upper side of the tail are not so long and full as
those of a fox, but the under part and the sides are
the same ; the tips of them are black. Her legs
and feet are black, and the latter are round hke
yours, with a little tan -colour behind the knee-
joint. Her ears are pointed, and when she is at
rest laid back, but when she is roused pricked up
like your own. All these properties you may be-
hold in me, but not exactly in an equal degree.
The most remarkable difference between ourselves
and you is this, that neither my mother nor myself
are endued with the strong odour peculiar to the
fox. JMy mother has never been let loose by the
consent of her keepers, even in the inn-yard ; but
having once got loose by accident, when about two

60 THE LIFE OF A FOX

years old, she ran away a long distance, and being
followed into a yard was there secured again. It
was observed when running that she carried her
tail level as I do, like a fox ; sometimes it was
crooked, but never upright. It was not so much
curled as mine is.

I lived with my mother, and when I was two
years old, a master of fox-hounds happening to hear
of us, came to see us ; and after making many
inquiries, persuaded my owner to let him take me
away with him. I was then placed under the care
of the old feeder of hounds, with orders that I should
be allowed to run about in the house, with his
children for companions. I was shown to every
one as a curious animal, and became a great favour-
ite, but all attempts to tame me failed, and I never
would let a stranger touch me. My master took
me out with his dogs when he went to shoot rabbits,
but found me wholly useless. The sound of the
gun and the barking of the dogs frightened me so
much that I always ran away into the nearest
hedge or wood to hide myself ; and I felt that my
fate was sealed when I heard the old feeder say to
my master one day, " Now, sir, I am sure that this
here ' vulp ' " (for so I was called) " will never be
no use at all ; for he is as wild and timorous now

COCK-TAIL'S STORY 61

he is two years old as ever he was. We can't get
un to do anything hke the terriers ; he frisks about
Hke an eel, so as we can't touch un at times."
Finding that I had no friend to say a good word
for me I absconded, and when seen at a distance
have often been mistaken for a fox, and scared by
the cry of " Tally-ho ! tally-ho ! " and the hounds
following me. That they never caught me I
suppose may be attributed to my not having
the fox's strong scent.

" Thy story is marvellous ; but I must doubt its
truth until I see thy mother. I fear that thou art
hke other vain creatures, who, knowing their own
unworthiness, would fain connect themselves with
those who are in any way excellent, but beware of
betraying us."

" Ha ! is it so ? I am off."

" He is gone, and grins defiance ! This mongrel
will think nothing of destroying us by the dozen ;
but he may suffer for it yet.

"And now, my friends, as we have heard the
mongrel's account of himself, let us hear Craven's
story. Open thy hps and throw thy tongue freely ;
tell us how many times thou hast beaten these vex-
atious hounds, and be not chary of thy experience."

CR.W'EXS STORY

T is unnecessar}' to
enter into the ordin-
2lt\ details of my life
after having heard our
friend who incited us
here. Consequently
mv storv' a^tU be a
short one. I was bom
and bred in Saveniake
Forest, in the Craven Hunt, where my father
and mother had been considered to be of some
importance, ha^'ing often beaten a famous pack of
hounds in that countr}'. To the best of my recol-
lection, the first pack of hounds by which I was
hunted belonged to Mr. I. Ward ; from them I
had many narrow escapes, which I now, ha^^ng
since been hunted by other hounds, set do^\Ti to
their immense size, for although they could and
did hunt me in an extraordinary manner, and

CRA\'EN*S STORY 63

pursued me closely in the flat coimtn- and in the
forest, yet I found that I left them far behind
when running over the flinty hills which separate
that comitry from ^Ir. Ashton Smith's. Their
steady style of huntmg made it difticult to shake
them off" elsewhere. I once overheard a man remark
to their master that they were larger than any
that he had ever seen, especially as to their heads.
The reply at first sm^rised me, "• Yes. I like them
larofe, for when once thev get them do^^^l in hunt-
ino- thev are so hea^-^* that thev cannot s^t them
up agam."' After beuig limited by them mider liis
du-ection, I was hunted by them when they be-
longed to ]Mr. Horlock, from whom also I have
had some narrow escapes, principally by runnuig
through large woods, where they soon changed me
for another fox. I recollect once, when h*ing m
a small covert near Benham Park. I was startled
by liearmg the cry of another but smaller pack of
homids, as I could distinguish them to be by the
sound of their tongues. Shortly afterwiu-ds I saw
a fox pass near me much distressed, and very
soon the fatal ** whoop" was heard. It iifterwards
appeared that this gentleman's brother had permis-
sion to try whether he could kill with his sniidl
pack a fox which had more than once beaten the

64 THE LIFE OF A FOX

large one. The following season 1 was surprised
one morning by hearing the voices of some different
men with hounds, di*awing the wood in which I
lay. I soon moved and went away from the wood,
but was seen by men, who commenced hallooing,
" Gone away ! " The hounds were then hunting
another fox in the wood, where they continued all
day without killing him. At length I was found
by them where there was no other fox. They
pursued me for many miles in a most extraordinary
way, and such good hunting hounds they were,
that had I not gone down a road where a flock
of sheep had just gone before, unknown to the
huntsmen, I must have been killed. They there
came to a check, and as it was contrary to Mr.
Wyndham's system to assist his hounds by hold-
ing them forward, they never got near me again
that day. It was very like the system described
by our friend in the New Forest.

The following year I was again surprised by
hearing the voice of another strange huntsman,
before I knew that hounds were just coming into
the wood. However, this notice was sufficient to
prepare me for a start. Soon after I had moved
from my kennel, a single hound threw his tongue.
Mr. Smith gave a very loud cheer, and every

1

u*

CRAVEN^S STORY 65

hound appeared at once to be running on the scent.
This so frightened me that I lost no time in leaving
the covert and taking my way straight to the
forest, where other foxes were soon moved by
hearing the hounds ; I escaped this time also. Not
feeling however quite safe, I resorted to a plan
which had been adopted by other foxes before. I
contrived to crawl up the side of a large oak tree,
by means of some small branches which grew out
of its trunk near the bottom, and the stems of
ivy which covered it farther up. At a considerable
distance from the ground I found a desirable spot
to rest upon, where the large branches, about which
was a thick patch of the ivy, divided. To this
place I resorted every morning for a long time,
and thence could frequently see the horrible hounds,
myself lying, as I fancied, in certain safety. One
day, however, as I turned my head towards where
they were hunting a fox in the wood close by,
my attention was so riveted that I did not observe
a keeper, who in passing the tree on the other
side had seen me and was proceeding towards the
hounds just at the moment the fatal " whoop ! " was
heard, — the hounds having killed the unfortunate
fox which they had been hunting.

Soon afterwards the keeper told Lady EHzabeth

66 THE LIFE OF A FOX

Bruce where I was ; it was also communicated to
INIr. Smith, who said, that although the hounds
had had a hard day's work, the fox should be dis-
lodged from his extraordinary situation if her
ladyship wished to see it done. To my horror, the
keeper brought the hounds straight to my tree
and pointed to the spot where I lay as close as I
could. As soon as they were taken away to a
considerable distance and out of sight, the keeper
was desired to chmb up the tree and bring me
down. The horror of my situation may be easily
conceived as I heard him ascending. I did not
move until I saw his hand close to me ; but as he
was on the point of taking hold of me I sprang
from my lofty nest. Fortunately dropping on
some branches which projected about half way
down, I broke the fall, which would have broken
my neck, and fell to the ground, from which I
rebounded, I think, some feet. Much shaken by
the fall, but fortunately nothing worse, I soon
was on my legs and away across the forest straight
to the west woods, which were about three miles
distant. When the hounds were only the distance
of half a field they saw me enter this immense
covert ; but, as several foxes were soon moving, I
escaped; and the hounds were kept running till

CRAVEN^S STORY 67

it was nearly dark. I have since heard that the
height from which I sprang to the ground was
afterwards measured to decide a bet, and that it
was proved to be exactly twenty -seven feet. It
was a strange adventure, but can be attested by
many who saw it ; and with this I conclude my
story.

Now for Northampton Pytchly. Thou art
famihar with these things ; thou hast, no doubt,
thy story by heart, and canst go a slapping pace.

PYTCHLY'S STORY

— "'^" ECOLLECT thatwhen
the pace is good it
; cannot last long, and
so with my story, for
I I remember but little
" of my very early days.
I have had the good
luck to escape from
several packs of hounds which have hunted my
country, and am now arrived at a venerable age ;
indeed, so far advanced in my teens that I began
to beheve myself to be the oldest fox in the
country, until I saw one who is fastened up by a
chain in the back -yard of the Peacock Inn, at
Kettering. Having been there ever since he was a
cub, he is known to be eighteen years old, and he
is now full one -fourth shorter than when in his
prime of life. It is not Ukely that foxes often attain
to such an age, as before that they become infirm ;

PYTCHLyS STORY 69

and in countries where there are hounds become
an easy prey to them, and where there are no
hounds they are killed by the gamekeepers.

The first pack of hounds by which I was hunted
belonged to INIr. Osbaldiston, and a most trimming
pack they were ; but luckily for me, when they
were going their best pace in pursuit of me, they
sometimes overran the scent, owing to their great
courage, which, in the breeding of them, seemed to
have been more attended to than the nose. They
sometimes ran away for a little while even from
all the fast riders. These, however, generally con-
trived to get up again to them, especially when
at a check ; but every moment's delay made more
clear to all the necessity of having best noses.

It may appear strange that I should have escaped
from the different packs, since the Squire's ^ left, in
so fine a country as this to which I belong, especially
when such expense has been incurred to procure a
strong pack on purpose to destroy us ; but, luckily
for us, the hunters fell into the mistake of trying to
make what they called a flying pack, and to this
end getting rid of all those which they called slow
hounds, many of which were such as would not

^ To Mr. Osbaldiston belonged, par excellence, the title of "the
Squire." — Ed.

70 THE LIFE OF A FOX

go the pace without a good scent, as they would
have them do. Such hounds were always drafted,
although, when there was a good scent, this sort
could puzzle even the fast riders to keep with them.
Partly to this cause, then, I attribute my having
hved to my great age. There are other reasons
why fewer foxes are killed than formerly. In the
first place, the country is overrun with drains, of
which there are thousands unknown to the hunters,
but known to us. When severely pressed by the
hounds, I have often got into one of them, and it
frequently happened to be in the middle of an open
field, when hounds in chase of me have run over it ;
and owing to their mettle and to their being pressed
by hard riders, they have been urged on beyond it,
then held on forward in every way by the huntsman ;
and if, after this, the drain has been discovered, the
scent, owing to the time lost, has been nearly gone.
The entrance to drains is generally in a low part of
the land, which is chilled by water upon it, and
therefore may not hold a scent to discover that we
have gone into one.

During the time that that fine old sportsman.
Lord Spencer, hunted this country, there were
nothing like so many of these drains as there are
now, which may in some measure account for fewer

PYTCHLY'S STORY 71

foxes being killed at the present time than when
Charles King hunted the hounds. I have heard
my old granny say that the first thing his lordship
thought of and wished to do, Avas to improve and
strengthen his pack in every possible way. Of late,
the pack has been thought to be of least considera-
tion ; and it would seem by the system adopted,
that a fox is to be run down by men who can ride
fast, and that whippers-in are nearly all that is
wanted. For instance, when I have been pursued
by the hounds, if I have run towards or through
any covert, I have frequently been astonished, after
passing through it, and almost before the hounds
had arrived at it, to see one of the whippers-in
riding beyond it, in order to see me go away, which
he rarely or never could do ; and if he did by
accident get in time to see me at all, the consequence
was, that when I saw him I went back again into
the covert, and then, if there was any fresh fox or
foxes in it, they were pretty sure to be changed and
hunted, and I escaped. It generally happened that
I had gone on through the covert before the
whipper-in got round, in time to see, not me, but a
fresh fox go away, to which he would probably
haUoo on the hounds, and, not knowing the differ-
ence, declare it was the hunted one.

72 THE LIFE OF A FOX

I suppose you will now not wonder that I have
lived to so great an age in this country. It is true
I have had some narrow escapes within the last few
seasons, particularly one in the year 1840, when I
was found by the hounds then belonging to Mr.
Smith, and in consequence of beating them, called
the Hero of Waterloo. I attributed my escape to
the system above described and adopted by the men
on that occasion, when the hounds were hallooed
on to a fresh fox, which the whipper-in Jones had
viewed away on the farther side of Loalland Wood,
at a time when the hounds were hunting my scent
through it, I having gone through and away from
it long before he got there. On looking back I
witnessed, to my regret, Mr. Smith's displeasure at
the system, which from that time he insisted should
not be continued. However, I was, four days
afterwards, lying in a small wood at Kelmarsh,
when the hounds pursued a fox in full cry, and
came straight towards where I lay. Just before
they arrived I heard the following words addi'essed
by Mr. Smith to his whipper-in : " Where are you
riding to before the hounds, when they are running
hard ? Keep behind them in your place. If we
cannot kill our fox without your acting thus, we had
better have a pack of whippers-in, and no hounds at

PYTCHL\"S STORY 73

all." I never heard of or saw the same system
again.

INIany other changes took place, which, as being
unUke what we had been used to, were by no means
agreeable to us. One of them was the former way
of giving up hunting a fox and going to find another.
On some occasions, when I have been found
and hunted by the hounds, and fancied that I was
safe, as I had done on previous occasions whenever
I could not hear them, I was surprised to hear them,
after a short time, again hunting on the line I had
come. I was once found by the hounds in a covert
close to Fox Hall, and after they had pursued me
closely for a few miles, I, in consequence of there
being a hne of dry fallows, left them far behind ; so
that I had given up all idea of being disturbed again
by them that day, and stopped in Mr. Hope's plan-
tation ; I had been but a short time there when
they again approached, but slowly, and I heard the
following words addressed to Mr. Smith, who was
hunting his hounds : " How much longer shaU you
go on with this cold scent ? Don't you think you
can find another fox?" The reply was, "I shall
hunt this as long as a hound will own the scent.
We shall get up to him by and by, and kill him too."

On hearing this it was time to be off. I was

74 THE LIFE OF A FOX

shortly after seen in the plantation, and hunted
closely by the hounds, which, after another long
check, again got on my scent in the wood where I
was first found. They hunted me very fast across
some of the finest gTass country, and I was obhged
to take refuge in a drain under a road leading to a
field, where fortunately I found another fox, and
succeeded in getting beyond him in his retreat. It
often occurs that the fox which is hunted and
frightened forces his way beyond the fresh one, and
there remains during the operation of digging, and
when the huntsmen come by, the fresh fox is drawn
out and given to the hounds. Such was the case
now, and so I escaped, for luckily it was getting
late, and the hounds were taken away immediately
without their discovering that I was left behind.
I had time to remark that only one man, who was
addressed as his Grace, was with the hounds at the
finish, or indeed for a long time during the run,
nearly all having left at the time of slow-hunting.

And now, my friends, I have done.

*' Done ! Tell us first what has become of our
friend old King Stumpy. There is a rumour that
he is dead, and I do not perceive any one here
without a brush."

Alas ! he is no more. He was captured, and

PYTCHLY'S STORY 75

massacred, and died an ignominious death. It
happened last autumn that he was found as usual
in Grafton Park one morning, as soon as it was
light, by this new pack, when he had imprudently
glutted himself, and was thinking again to save his
Ufe by immediately running into a drain, in which
he had so often saved himself before after a severe
day's hunting. He who had been king of the forest,
and had for so many years fairly beaten his enemies,
was now dug out and devoured by the hounds on
the spot. Oh ! the ruthless and unfeehng beasts !
Yet, be it confessed, that we ourselves do sometimes
dig out a mouse or so, but it is to eat him kindly,
you know.

Here I intended to finish my story, but as I am
expected to explain how I have escaped from every
pack by which I have been hunted, I must add,
that having for a long time had a wish to see that
part of the Northampton country hunted till last
year by the Duke of Grafton's hounds, in which the
woods were of immense size, having heard that T.
Carter and his killing pack had left the country,
and thinking it would be a place of greater security
for my old age, I went there last spring, but had
not been long settled in Puckland's woods before I
was disturbed by hearing another pack, which soon

76 THE LIFE OF A FOX

found me out, and pursued me for some time most
closely, till at length they came to a check. When
Mstening, I heard a person ride up and use these
words to the huntsman : *' Well, what are you going
to do now ? You had better be doing something ;
it's no use standing still." There was some reply
which I could not hear. However, I discovered that
the man addressed was Taylor the huntsman, and
that the pack was the remainder of that by which
I had first been hunted when it belonged to Mr.
Osbaldiston. The only difference I could observe
was, that they were not quite so powerful. That
they were stout enough I had reason to know ; for
although I escaped after their hunting me for
several hours in these large woods, they afterwards
killed another fox without leaving the covert.

On another day, when I was lying in a large
covert adjoining the Forest of Whittlebury, and the
hounds had been drawing some distance beyond the
spot where I lay, I thought that I could steal away
unseen, and had nearly reached the outside of the
wood when I was much annoyed by the noise of a
jay, which kept flying above me as I went on.
When I stopped I heard a man say, "There is a
fox moving close to that jay, I'll be sworn ; just
look, you will see him cross that path directly.''

PYTCHLY^S STORY 77

This talking frightened me from the spot, and
on my going a httle ftirther and crossing a path,
another man exclaimed, " There he goes ! it was a
fox that jay was making such a noise about." He
then gave a loud view-halloo ; the hounds soon
came up, and after running some time in the forest,
I left them following another fox.

The httle I had to say is said.

" Come, Dorset, fain would we hear thy story
next. Our thoughts should be open as the heavens
above, and free as the winds that follow us. We
are brethren and fellows in our way of life, and thou
may'st not doubt that we will judge thy deeds fairly
but kindly."

" Justice, then, is fled to lowly beasts, for men
have none of it. Listen to my story, friends ; a
plain and unvarnished one it is, and you shall have
it freely and entirely."

DORSET'S STORY

WAS born in Cran-
borne Chace, which
is in ]Mr. Farquhar-
son's hunt, and it
was here that I first
heard the sound of a
huntsman's voice, the
\iVl^//0V/ , "^«^W^f^|^ voice of old Ben
' "''^' Jennings ; and melo-

dious as it might
have been considered by others, it was any thing
but agreeable to my ear when he used it to cheer
on his hounds, which appeared so well to under-
stand it. It frequently was the cause of my
leaving this large covert. I returned to it because
the hounds were apt to get on the scent of another
fox. The voice became at last so familiar to me
that I heeded it not, but rather found amusement
in it, taking little trouble to be out of hearing of it

DORSETS STORY 79

when the hounds were hunting me ; but another
season came, and great was the difference. I lay
in a favourite covert called Short Wood, when I
was startled by another voice instead of old Ben's,
that of the new huntsman, Treadwell's, clear and
beautiful — not so powerful as that which I had
been used to of late, nor was it vox et prceterea
nihil; for his system was one which soon made
me give up listening when the hounds were
pursuing. I found that I had now no longer
time to wait and hang about as I had done. I
was obhged to get away as fast as 1 could, and
had enough to do to escape from the new man,
whose coolness and perseverance frightened me.
My first escape was owing to an imperfect cast
which he made when the hounds had come to a
check in a field, where there was a flock of sheep,
for instead of taking the hounds entirely round and
close under the hedge, beginning at the left hand,
he missed that corner for about fifty yards, where
it happened that I had gone through the fence,
and by the time he had taken them close all round
every where else and held them on forward, time
was lost, and the hounds got on the scent exactly
opposite. Although it now became slow hunting,
I did not feel safe until I heard him blow his horn

80 THE LIFE OF A FOX

to go home. 1 believe that this kind of mistake,
or rather neglect, has been frequent on the part of
other hmitsmen by whom I have been hunted.
Be that as it may, one or two escapes from this
able man and his pack were sufficient to induce
me to get quickly into another hunt out of his
way. Those escapes may be attributed to the want
of scent, and they ^^■ill not seem surprising, if the
time be calculated which was lost at every check,
whilst I was going on A\'ithout listening as the hare
always does. HaAing stopped some httle time in
a strong covert of gorse in an open do-vni, m JNIr.
Drax's countrj^ south of Blandford, and close ad-
joining to Lord Portman's, I was one morning
annoyed by hearing the voice of Mr. Drax's hunts-
man, John Last, who was di'amng the covert mth
his hounds, by Avhich I was shortly after surrounded.
Being ignorant of the runs and tracks in the gorse,
I was so pressed by them that I sprung upon the
top of the gorse, and ran along it for a few yards,
but the hallooing of the hunters soon frightened
me down again. At length I went straight away
across the do^m in ^iew of all the hunters, and had
not gone more than a hundred yards before a large
man on a hea\y gray horse rode between me and
the covert, and began hallooing in the most

DORSETS STORY 81

frightful manner, at the same time waving his
hat as if he was out of his mind ; the consequence
of which was, that the hounds, which were hunting
me closely out of the covert, immediately they
saw and heard him threw up their heads and ran
^\'ildly after him, expecting to see me, which
fortunately they did not, as I had by that time
just got beyond a small elevation in the doA\Ti,
which prevented the man also from seeing me.
I turned directly to the left. He now found out
the mischief he had done by causing the hounds
to Uft their heads, and galloped on still farther,
hoping to get another \dew of me, but in vain,
as I had sunk into a small valley, and he luckily
turned the hounds in a direction opposite to that
in which I had gone. The scene at this time
defies description. " A-VHiat are you at, you crazy
old man ? You have lost our fox ! " and endless
execrations were lavished on him. I beheve this
circumstance saved my life ; for had it not occurred,
the hounds would have had me in ^^ew for three
miles across the doAviis, and although it was some
httle time before they got on my scent again, they
came after me at a most terrific pace, which fortun-
ately, however, was slackened on their crossing the
road and having to chmb over a wall into the

82 THE LIFE OF A FOX

grounds adjoining some immense woods, through
the whole of which they hunted me again at a good
pace, and straight on for nine or ten miles, till I
was almost exhausted ; luckily they were stopped
when crossing a field where there was a flock of
sheep, no one being there to assist them. Shortly
I heard in a loud voice, " John ! Where is
John ? " and finding that they were not likely to
get much assistance from the huntsman, I quietly
retraced my steps towards the place fi'om which
I started, but remained there for a short time
only.

I was again lying one morning in a piece of
gorse near the Down House, when I was waked
by hearing what I thought was the whistle of the
keeper, but which turned out to be that of Lord
Portman's huntsman, whose hounds were all around
me before I was aware. The men on horseback
were scattered in all directions over the down,
and it would have served them right if they had
lost their day's sport, which they very nearly did,
as I stole away to a large rabbit earth close by,
into which I ran.

Unluckily some of the hounds got on my scent
and hunted it up to the earth, where they marked
it by stopping and baying. Shortly after this two

DORSETS STORY 83

or three of the hunters rode up, and I heard the
following words : " Not worth saving : get him out
and give him to the hounds ; he can't run a yard."
However, it was decided that I should have a
chance, as they called it ; and a pretty chance it
was. I was dug out, put into a sack, and given to
the whipper-in, with orders to turn me out on the
down. Something was said about cutting my
hamstrings, in order to lame me, and one wished
to cut off my brush ; and that it was not done was
a great disappointment to the wretch. I was
turned out at only about a hundred yards from the
pack, but contrived to reach a hedge just as one of
the leading hounds had got close to me, when I
turned short to the left down the narrow ditch.
The hounds all sprang over the fence, and then,
not seeing me there, fortunately turned first to the
right ; and before they had found out that I had
gone down the ditch I had got out on- the other
side again, and ran to a corner, when I turned
through it again into another cross-hedge. By
these means I got clear off before they had another
sight of me, for they overran my Une of scent
a httle when they got back on the down on my
track. I well recollect hearing the huntsman
calhng loudly to the whipper-in to get on and

84 THE LIFE OF A FOX

head the fox from going to the woods ; but he,
poor thing, was in a state of too much excitement
to understand what was meant, and even if he had
understood, it would have been a fruitless attempt
to stop me from making my point to reach a wood
or place of safety on such an occasion, even if my
first attempts had been prevented. I may flatter
myself that a hundred witnesses are ready to pro-
nounce it as clever an escape as was ever effected
by a fox in similar circumstances. For the future
they will not say that a fox cannot run, and con-
demn him to be given to the hounds, merely for
running into an earth.

I now made the best of my way straight to the
large woods which I had passed through when
hunted by the other pack, and luckily made good
use of my time, for they came after me as if
their feet had been winged, neither road nor wall
delaying them. I had enough to do to keep out
of their way through these large Avoods, which they
traversed nearly as fast as if in the open country.
At the extremity of the woods, to my surprise, I
met the noble master of the pack, who had succeeded
in getting to that point before me, the result of
which was that I turned back into the covert before
he saw me, and caused a slight check, after which

I

DORSETS STORY 85

they again approached me, just as I had reached
the wall which surrounded the wood, at the top of
the hill looking into the vale, where I descended,
and looking back saw the hounds for a short time
again at a check, owing to that high ground being
sUghtly covered with snow. I dreaded lest they
should take the hounds on beyond the snow to-
wards the vale where I was ; but they soon turned
back, and I heard no more. It was nearly three
o'clock, which some think time to go homeward
rather than from home, as would have been the
case if they had followed me, when probably I
should not have Uved to tell my tale. The scent
in the vale is always so much greater than on the
hills from which they had hunted me, that I must
have fallen a prey to this pack. Although we are
endowed with so large a share of wisdom, it is not
all-sufficient ; or else we should be aware that when
pursued by hounds and nearly beaten by them, it
must be all but certain death to us to run from a
bad scenting country into a good one.

Having now openly defeated the enemies who
had conspired against me, I remained in the vale
until I was tempted to move into a finer and fairer
country. Great changes are going on in the hunt-
ing of the country which I left ; and should we

86 '^ THE LIFE OF A FOX

ever meet again there may be much for me to tell.
For the present I have done.

" We now look to thee, Warwick, to give us
something good ; thy country has produced one of
the most extraordinary men that ever lived. He
knew all the wiles of the wiliest creature that walks
the earth. Dost thou think that Shakespeare
would have been a good huntsman ? "

" By the faith of a fox I should have been most
loath to try him. Did he possess the following
quahties : boldness, perseverance, activity, enter-
prise, temper, and decision ? Had he a keen
perception of relative place ? Had he a good eye
and ear ? If he had all these, and more, then
inight Shakespeare have been an immortal fox-
hunter.

" It is Uttle that I have seen in this country,
and I have little to tell ; but I will at once proceed
and state to what cause I attribute my escape on
one or two occasions lately."

(r^X^^^'-^i

l4WftM*-'4|H.I,^ WARWICK'S
'^■j:4';,d\^ STORY

N the month of INIarch
last I was lying in a
strong gorse - covert,
not far from Nmie-
ham, when after hear-
ing the voice of
Stephens, the hunts-
man to the Atherstone ^ hounds, I heard the follow-
ing remarks by one sportsman to another, both
being on horseback and waiting close to where I
was in my kennel.

" Well, I do hate that silent system ; had
Robert not been so sparing of his voice, or had he
only given one blast of his horn when he began
drawing the small spinney just now, the hounds

1 Stephens was huntsman of the Warwickshire, not the Atherstone,
pack. — Ed.

88 THE LIFE OF A FOX

would not have chopped that vixen hi cub ; for
vixens in that state are unable to run far, and are
unapt to move till pressed to do so by the approach
of danger. She probably had been so much used
to see the keeper and his dogs pass, that, not
hearing the huntsman's voice or horn, she was
taken by surprise when the hounds got round her ;
if she had moved before, she might have been seen,
and the hounds stopped in time to save her. No
doubt she had been there some weeks before, and,
in consequence of having a good friend at the gi-eat
house not being ever disturbed, she beheved that
she was safe."

I would not venture to hsten any longer, for I
heard the same hounds running another fox in the
gorse close by me. It appeared that there was also
another besides, making altogether three of us.
Finding this to be the case, and thinking to be very
cunning, I took an early opportunity of quitting
the covert ; and had scarcely got across two fields
before I saw a multitude of men on horseback riding
along the road in a parallel direction to that which
I was going. They had seen me leave the covert
without waiting for the hounds, which they ought
to have known were running still after another fox ;
however, when they found that the hounds were

WARWICK^S STORY 89

not running after the same fox that they were them-
selves, they began hallooing, and the hounds were
shortly afterwards brought and got on my scent.
Of course I returned to the covert, for I had no
notion of being thus hunted by men, and wished to
let the gentlemen know that I would not go unless
I chose to do so, let them halloo as they would. I
therefore punished them by running for nearly three
quarters of an hour longer in the covert. This
brought them a little to their senses, and they gave
me room to make another attempt. Not Uking to
remain in such close quarters with this sticking pack,
I seized an opportunity, and went away on the side
of the covert opposite to that which I had first
attempted, and though I was viewed away by
several men, it happened that they were able this
time to hold their horses and their tongues until I
had got fairly away, when they certainly did halloo,
so that about half the pack came to them. The
whipper-in was sent to stop them, and as soon as
the huntsman had got a few more he also came to
them ; but not having quite three parts of the pack
he did not go on with them, but stopped and blew
his horn for the others which he had left. Some of
them shortly after came, but seeing him stopping
where he was, did not appear to be in any haste.

90 THE LIFE OF A FOX

possibly because they were aware that they had left
a fox in the covert ; but, from his stopping, it might
not have appeared to them that a fox had gone on,
or they would not have taken it so leisurely.

To this, then, do I attribute my escape ; for,
though they did hunt me for a mile or so, the time
was lost, and so too, of course, the scent ; this, added
to the impatience shown by the men who were out,
settled the business for me. An accident which had
lately occurred to Stephen, the huntsman, by which
his foot was injured, prevented him, I conclude, from
being every moment close to the hounds, when these
men were so anxious to get on, and the huntsman's
presence was so absolutely necessary to prevent
their doing mischief. However, I had no reason to
regret it, for I went straight across a fine country ;
though it was reported that I had returned to the
covert, which was not likely ; I may add, on this
occasion, that I went to the coverts at Comb, to
which place they also came to find another fox.
They did not cross the fine I had come, but passed
through part of a large covert where I had stopped,
without drawing it, expecting to find a fox at the
other end of it.

Seeing this, I slipped back behind them, and was
stealing away, as I thought undiscovered (no un-

WARWICK^S STORY 91

common thing for me to do), but, unluckily, a man
in a red coat had stopped back, as if on purpose to
see any fox that might be left behind ; and as soon
as I was out of sight he gave a loud view-halloo, by
repeating which he brought the hounds after a short
time on to the line of my scent. This caused me
to lose no time, and having now a good start, I ran
straight through all those large woods until I got
to the end of that near the railway, when I turned
to the right ; and after stopping in an outside covert
for some time, thinking that I had escaped, I heard
the hounds hunting very slowly, till they were quite
silent. But I was soon after surprised to hear the
huntsman taking them across the wood where I was,
and instantly left it in a direction opposite to that
where I had seen all the hunters ride ; consequently
only a few followed with the hounds when they
hunted me across the river and railway into the
open, beyond Coventry. They ran me back to near
the side of the river, when they were taken to the
other side, which happening to be towards Leam-
ington, I remained in that part, and had got so far
as Ufton Wood. I was found there a few days
afterwards by the new huntsman of the Warwick-
shire hounds and that pack. Having previously
heard that they had learned much from Carter, the

92 THE LIFE OF A FOX

Duke of Grafton's late huntsman, under whom he
had been whipper-in, and that he had been doing
much mischief amongst us, I lost no time in leaving
this large covert, and was soon followed by the pack,
which hunted me at a fair pace, until they had
followed me part of the way across a dry fallow
field. As my good luck would have it, there was
also another fallow in the direction which I had
gone, straight beyond. It seems that Stephen, the
huntsman, made one or two casts with his hounds
across each of these fallow fields without success.
In his anxiety not to lose, I suppose he forgot that
if the hounds could not hunt scent over one fallow
they could not over another. He omitted to hold
the hounds on and across the next field of wheat
beyond it, and took them back towards the covert
where I came from, and thus it was that I escaped ;
for after some remark was made to him on the
subject, he directly took the hounds back to the
field beyond the fallow ; they there got on my line
of scent, and after hunting slowly for a couple of
miles, fortunately for me gave it up ; otherwise, the
Une I had taken was so good that I might have
fallen a Adctim to this persevering and promising
young huntsman. After a little more experience
he will be a dangerous enemy of ours.

WARWICK^S STORY 93

" Now, Chester, tell us how they go on in thy
part of the world, and how thou hast contrived to
escape from that famous hunting pack of hounds,
which we are told belonged to the late Mr. Codring-
ton. Tell us, moreover, is it a good huntsman they
have to hunt them ? "

CHESTER'S STORY

S foxes are scarce in
our country, I alone
could be found to
travel here, and hav-
ing been hunted only
one season, I am,
from my own experi-
ence, but ill qualified
to reply to your
question as to the huntsman. I have as yet
escaped fi-om being hunted by him, but I do hear
that he is in all respects most excellent. Unfor-
tunately for him, but fortunately for us, he was lately
disabled by the fracture of a bone of his leg ; and
consequently could not come with the hounds when
they hunted the last week in the Namptwich country.
For reasons to be given hereafter, I had rarely lain
in coverts of late, and had preferred lying in
hedgerows. I happened, however, to be lying in a

CHESTER'S STORY 95

covert one day when I heard the voice of a man
who was hunting hounds which turned out to be
Mr. A^Hiite's, and as they were close to me before I
heard them, my only chance was to leave the
covert immediately ; but in the first field I was
met by some men on horseback who frightened me
back again. I was not seen by the hounds, which
ran out of the wood on my scent as far as I had
gone, but were turned back, not without a little
loss of time, which was a favourable occurrence for
me. I went straight through the wood and away
on the opposite side, and soon found that they
were after me. I kept on, but not in a straight
line, which rather puzzled the gentleman who was
hunting them. They came at length to a final
check, and could hunt no farther. I thought that
if Harden had been hunting them, there was one
cast which he would have made, and that was to
the left of the field where they lost the scent ; for
although each of the other sides were tried by cast-
ing the hounds that way twice over, they were
never taken once round beyond the field to the
left ; and to this I attribute by escape, for I was
nearly beaten, and it appeared that the pack which
I found such difficulty in shaking off and defeat-
ing by turning so short as I had done during the

96 THE LIFE OF A FOX

run, was that which belonged to the late Mr.
Codrington. It is stated that they killed e very-
fox that they hunted during eight following weeks.
They are said not to be compared for beauty to the
former pack, which is reported to have been a
magnificent one ; but " handsome is that handsome
does."

Now, my friends, I will tell you why I prefer
hedgerows and out-of-the-way places to fix on for
a kennel. Listen to a matter of fact, but a
melancholy story of what took place in a part of
the country where I was bred. It happened when
in a favourite little covert near Namptwich that I
was attracted by the scent of a bait which was
placed under a large iron trap, carefully covered
over with some light grass and moss ; on attempt-
ing to remove these I unfortunately struck the
trap, which went off and caught me by the foot.
Need I describe the agony I endured, confmed as I
was by the mangled foot ? Daylight appeared,
when, nearly exhausted with pain, I made a desper-
ate effort with my other forefoot, and succeeded in
pulling out the peg that confined to the ground
the chain of the trap, which I dragged away for
some distance, I then lay down overcome with pain,
and in this deplorable condition remained for two

CHESTER'S STORY 97

or three days and nights. The foot being now as it
were benumbed and almost insensible, I in order to
save my Ufe fairly bit it off with my teeth, and thus
released myself from the trap. Not long after this
had occurred a more tragical affair took place in this
very same covert. In the early part of the month
of JNIarch in the present year 1843, I was lying,
as was my custom, in a thick and broad hedge,
when late in the day I was much frightened by the
approach of the hounds, passing near me rather
quickly to my great relief, for it appeared that
they had not found a fox all day. They immedi-
ately begun drawing the covert, and shortly after-
wards a fox was seen with an iron trap fast to his
foreleg, which was broken above the knee. In the
course of a few minutes the fatal " whoop " was
heard, the signal of his death.

During the tumult which ensued amongst the
gentlemen who had been hunting, an honest farmer,
whose land surrounded the covert, came up and
stated that a short time before he had found in a
field close by a large trap exactly of the same sort,
which had in it two of a fox's toes. They belonged
to the foot which I parted with myself. It is
impossible to describe the sensation created by this
additional circumstance ; but it caused amongst

H

98 • ^THE LIFE OF A FOX

other remarks the following, which reached my
ears: — "These acts of shocking cruelty were scarcely
ever heard of in this part, till game became an
article of traffic to the landlord, and shooting on
his land began to be let to strangers who have no
interest whatever in the welfare of the country
where it Ues. Nothing conduces to that welfare
more than brilhant sport afforded by a pack of
hounds ; as it leads others, as well as those who
own estates, to become residents in the country.
Noblemen and gentlemen have now lost their
good old English feeUngs, and instead of inviting
their friends for the sport, they let their shooting,
or sell their game in the market. It frequently
happens that the persons to whom the shooting is
let are men who are engaged in business and reside
in large towiis. They are consequently ignorant
of the tricks and cruelties of their keepers during
their absence, and unaware of the disappointment
these keepers create to hundreds of gentlemen
who reside in the country, who keep large estab-
hshments of horses for the express purpose of
hunting, and whose money might otherwise be
spent in more questionable ways in town or else-
where."

I have heard the following lines recited by one

CHESTER'S STORY 99

who said that they ought to be put up over the
mantelpiece of every farmer in the kingdom : —

Attend, ye farmers, to this tale.

And when ye mend the broken rail.

Reflect with pleasure on a sport

That lures your landlord from the com-t,

To dwell and spend his rents among

The country folk from whom they sprung ;

And should his steed with trampling feet

Be m-ged across your tender wheat,

Tliat steed, perchance, by you was bred,

And yours the corn bv which he''s fed,

Ah ! then restrain vour rising ire.

Nor rashly cm'se the hvmting squire. — Wahburtox.

" So, Devonian, tell us thy history, for metliinks
't^vill be somethmg strange.*'

DEVONIAN'S STORY

story must needs be
a short one. In my
OA\ii comitry I am
caUed " The Bold
Dragoon," and as
every name either has
or ought to have a
particular meaning, I
am so called in con-
sequence of ha^'ing
once been in the possession of a certain captain of
dragoons who lived in the far West. These are
my facts. I was born and bred in a wild part of
Devonshire, and when a year old fell into the
possession -of a keeper. To state exactly how such
a thing happened might sometimes be inconvenient,
as in hunting countries a man scarcely dares to con-
fess the crime of capturing a fox, for lucre at least.
But here the keeper, thinking me remarkable for

DEVONIAN'S STORY 101
size and strength, carried me to Captain T ,^

who sent me off immediately as a present to Mr.
G. Templar, the master of a pack of small fox-
hounds at Stover in Devonshire, and I was carried
into a dark and gloomy place, which had been at
first intended for a large stable, and was above
seventy feet in length, and nearly the same m
breadth. Here I was let loose, and lookino- about
me in my fright, what should I see but at least
twenty other foxes, all coiled up in the snug holes
which they had made for themselves. Besides
these there were others out of sight. They all took
miuch care to hide themselves when any man came
in. As soon as he who had brought me there had
left the place, they all came romid me. I soon
learnt for what purpose I was brought liither, for it
appeared that each of them had been separately
limited by this gentleman's hounds, which he had
brought mider such command, that they scarcely
ever killed the fox they hunted ; for when hunting
up to him, if a rider was near enough to make his
voice heard, and he rated or spoke to them, they
would only bay at him till he was again captured,
placed in a bag, and carried home agaui.

It rarely happened that not the master nor

^ Captain Trelawuey. — Ed.

102 *^ THE LIFE OF A FOX

huntsman, nor the reverend friend who called him-
self first whipper-in, were up at the time, as they
were generally mounted on thorough-bred horses,
which they well knew how to ride. For myself, it
is a well-known fact that I have been turned out
and hunted by these hounds eighteen times, though
I have striven hard to get away. On no occasion
was I injured by the hounds, and I must do my
possessor justice by stating that he thoroughly
understands the nature of aU the animals that he
had to manage.

The extraordinary distance which we ran, when
hunted by these hounds, may be attributed to our
perfect ignorance of the country where we were
turned out, which also accounts for our not oftener
running at once to the impracticable parts which
abound here, and in which no horses could have
followed the hounds. In consequence of our know-
ing none of the coverts, we often ran straight across
Dartmoor, where the scent was so good that the
pace at which we were followed by the hounds
made it often most severe work for us ; and it
became almost a relief to be taken up and replaced
in the bag, which was carried for that purpose, and
reconveyed to our gloomy prison, where we were
well supplied with rabbits and other food.

DEVONIAN'S STORY ' 103

The various habits of our race were most
apparent. Some would keep quiet in their kennels,
which were holes made by them in the ground, or
where loose stones had been removed from the
bottom of the wall which surrounded our prison,
watching what was going on ; whilst others were
constantly moving about, as if in search of some
outlet for escape. One, whose activity was extra-
ordinary, had chosen for his place of rest a hole in
the wall, being the opening intended for a window,
which had been stopped up on the outside. It was
full eight feet from the ground, and it was surpris-
ing, even to us, to see him run, with the greatest
ease, up the perpendicular wall, as he daily did,
aided by the roughness of the surface alone.

It now remains for me to explain how I am
here and at liberty. We were one day surprised
by the entrance of our feeder, who brought in
several hampers, in which we were all taken to be
turned out in the adjoining woods, there to shift
for ourselves.

So you see that although I cannot boast of hav-
ing beaten a pack of hounds, according to the tenor
of the invitation, I have run away from them alto-
gether, and am here to do you service by pro^dng
the error of the arch enemy, in thinking it

104 THE LIFE OF A FOX

absolutely necessary for his hounds to devour the
animal they have been hunting, that their ardour in
the chase may be increased. I have been sorely
hunted by them, my friends, and not until they
had won the day, and run up to their object, did
they relax — not till then were they satisfied.

Again I would ask, why should our enemy wish
to slaughter us when seeking refuge in an earth, up
to which his hounds have hunted ? seeing that those
hounds so plainly show their contentment with
having succeeded, and done all that was required
of them.

All. " Bravo ! bravo ! well said, thou bold
Dragoon ! "

" Now, Berkshire, we pray thee tell us whether
thou dost hke a royal neighbourhood; whether
thou art safer, and whether thy treatment there is
preferable to our own. Tell us all that thou canst,
as thou livest nearer to those parts than most of us
do."

BERKSHIRE'S STORY

N that score, my friends, I have
not much to boast of ; but having
heard that the fair Queen had
taken to herself a consort
who rejoiced in the chase, 1
resolved to visit the royal
forest. Soon I found that
foxes here existed only in name. Some day in
December I was lying in Windsor Forest about
three o'clock in the afternoon, when I was disturbed
by the voice of Sir J. Cope's huntsman, Shirley,
who was taking the hounds through the forest to
find a fox. Though so late, he was most persever-
ing, and appeared determined to learn whether or
not within the purheus of the forest there was a fox
left ahve by the keepers. Seeing this I lost no
time ; but when stealing away was viewed by some
of the hunters. The hounds soon followed me,
and though it was a bad scenting day, I narrowly

106 THE LIFE OF A FOX

escaped. I saw enough of them to convince me
that they were not to be trifled with, and that a
tolerable scent would tax all my powers to beat
them.

It was some years ago that I was lying in a
covert at Bilhngbeare, when I was startled by
Shirley's voice. I soon got away from the covert,
thinking that I was not seen, but I was mistaken.
A view-halloo was given, and the hounds were soon
on my scent. I went the best pace I could straight
towards and through the large woods at Shottes-
brook, and onwards in the direction of Maidenhead
thicket, where I passed through the middle of a
small village. As the hounds had not been seen or
heard, no one was looking out, and consequently
no one saw me, although I passed through a cottage
garden ; and it behoves me to state that I probably
owed my safety to nothing more dignified than a
pig-sty attached to that garden, and which neutral-
ised the scent ; for the hounds soon afterwards
hunting so far, were unable to hunt farther. It was
supposed by the huntsman that I had taken refuge
in some of the buildings, and a search was made ;
when a sportsman who was present expressed his
surprise to a gentleman well-known in the hunt
that they did not first hold on the hounds beyond

BERKSHIRKS STORY 107

the village, and make that good first ; they would
then have seen whether I had gone on or not, and
if not it would have been time to come back and
try aU those places. This hint was taken, but too
late to gain by it, for the scent, which the hounds
had got on again, was now so cold that they could
hunt me but slowly, instead of going at the pace
they had hitherto gone, and which must have been
the death of me had it been continued but a short
time longer. I went straight on for several miles,
until I reached the Thames near Cookham. I did
not Uke to cross it, and returned to Bisham Wood ;
by which time, owing to my stopping about in a
part of the wood, the hounds had got very near to
me, when it luckily grew nearly dark ; and though
I was seen by them at not more than five hundred
yards' distance, they were stopped and taken home,
and I narrowly escaped from one of the most dash-
ing packs in the kingdom. It is to be hoped by us
in this part that his Royal Highness Prince Albert
will have his commands obeyed by the keepers in
Windsor Forest, and that this pack of hounds will
not be driven elsewhere to find a fox. I now re-
mained for a short time in a very thick covert,
called Pigeon-House Coppice, through which I
passed when hunted by the hounds.

108 THE LIFE OF A FOX

There is a tragical story connected with this
covert. The hounds many years since had met,
and the gentlemen were all assembled, when the
keeper who had the care of the coverts made his
appearance, and producing a sack in which there
was a fox, told them that unless they gave him a
certain sum of money for it to turn out and hunt,
he would shoot him before their eyes. This
atrocious threat made them all quite furious, and
they refused to give him anything ; on which this
monster in the shape of man immediately laid the
sack which contained the fox on the gi'ound, and
according to his threat shot him dead. The rage
which was felt by all present it is impossible to
describe. They did not put him in his own sack
and throw him into a pond close by ; but he was
soundly horsewhipped and instantly discharged
from his place.

A much better feeling towards us now exists in
this part of the country, and I have no longer a
dread of being shot. But it is my intention to
return to my old country, near Billingbeare and
Shottesbrook, as I hear that the keepers there
receive strict orders never to destroy one of us.
This is the more handsome on the part of the
occupier of the latter place, as he is not a fox-hunter

BERKSHIRE'S STORY 109

himself. No doubt I shall be suffered to lie in the
coverts of the former, though I find much of my
food at Shottesbrook, where the coverts are so thin
and hollow that I could not remain there durine:
the day without many chances of being disturbed
by the keeper's dogs. I hope at some future time
to be able to tell you that the breed of foxes in
those parts, and in the royal purUeus, has so in-
creased that it has been unnecessary for me to risk
my Ufe very often with Sir J. Cope's fine pack of
hounds. It is reported that he intends to pay
more frequent visits to these parts in future, in
consequence of having given up the distant part of
the country.

"And now, Sandy, tell us what is going on
north of Tweed. Be there any hounds there ? It
is reported that foxes there are shot hke rabbits.
The mountains, it seems, are not to be rode over,
and so no fox-hunting ; is it so ? "

SANDY'S STORY

ET me at once undeceive
you upon one point.
It is not the moun-
tains there, but the
hounds, that are hard
to be rode over, and
that on account of the
scent. We have, how-
ever, noble lords and
others who can and do
keep with the hounds, except on the steepest parts
of the Cheviots. In the next place, let me pray
of you not to believe the slanderers who say that
we are so unmercifully slaughtered. No, my friends,
it! is not so. We have patrons as good as, if not
better, than you have in the South. One gentle-
man alone has lately raised, at his o^\ti expense, for
our sole use, a series of coverts, which was the only
thing required, as both sides of Tweed, Berwickshire,

SANDY^S STORY 111

and Northumberland are as fine country as can be
desired, and, unfortunately for us, as good scenting
as any in the kingdom.

It is supposed that when people can fly thither
by steam, it will become the Melton of the North ;
but I hope the idea will end, as it began, in smoke.
You, my southern friends, appear to think that we
do not go the very fast pace that you do, and that
the hounds by which we are hunted are not equally
as good as those in your country ; but in this, too,
you are much mistaken. So good is the scent
there that, if it were not for the drains, which are
now so general in the cultivated parts, the hounds,
at the awful pace they go, would in a very short
time kill nearly every one of us. Then the hunts-
men are not to be despised ; on the contrary, we
have to contend with one who, with the following
quahfications, is near perfection, — the eye of an
eagle, fine temper, boldness, enterprise, coolness,
perseverance, intelligence, and, above all, decision.
This is the rare man with whom, and with whose
pack, we have to contend. I am proud to say that
I have been hunted by, and escaped from him, on a
good scenting day too, by taking refuge in the
crevice of a rock, after one of the fastest runs
possible for five miles. It began thus : — One

112 THE LIFE OF A FOX

morning early last season, when lying in a covert
called Bushen Glen, I was startled by hearing a
man riding quickly by. He then suddenly stopped
and addressed these few words to the whipper-in,
who brought the hounds.

" How long have you been here ? "

"Just come, my lord."

" Is Mr. Smith here ? "

" Not yet, my lord."

" Well, I never was so thoroughly drenched ;
never rode twenty-four miles in such a deluge ; so,
by Jove, I can't wait. Give me my horse."

No sooner done, than " Cover hoick ! " reached
my astonished ears, and I instantly left my kennel
prepared for a start. In a few minutes I was
stealing away, and after clearing the wall and
running in the open moor, I passed near the gentle-
man, I suppose, who was expected, and who, on
seeing me, said not a word. I therefore, thinking
I was unseen, did not turn back to the covert, but,
laying my ears well back on my poll, took straight
away across the moor, and just had a ghmpse of the
hounds and their noble huntsman. Lord Elcho,^
topping the wall at the same time. My flight,

1 Father of the present Earl of Wemyss. He continued to hunt
this country till about 1868.

SANDY'S STORY 113

however, was too rapid to allow time for much
curiosity. This was enough to make me go my
best pace straight across the moor for four miles,
and then a mile or two beyond, over fields, till I
reached a hanging covert on a steep by the side of
the Whitadder River, at which time the hounds
were not more than four hundred yards from me.
Although they did not see me, they ran the whole
way as if they really did.

Here, although there was soon another fox or
two moving, they still went on with my scent ; for
with the most unerring judgment this huntsman
kept the pack from changing, till at length I crossed
the river and over the moor on the other side to a
place of refuge, a crevice in a rock, for I could
not go farther. The gentlemen rode up, and I heard
these words : " Well, I never saw a finer run.
During the fii'st four miles the tail hounds never
got to the head at all, though not one hundred
yards behind those that were leading when they
first started."

On other occasions I have saved my hfe in a

similar way, but a circumstance occurred which

almost made me resolve never again to resort to a

drain. I was one night crossing a farm, not many

miles from Dunse, when I heard cries as of a fox in

I

114 THE LIFE OF A FOX

distress, and on going to the spot whence the noise
proceeded I discovered that two of my brethren
were confined in a stone di-ain, where they had been
several days without food, and were nearly starved.
I used every exertion in my power to scratch away
the stones which had been placed to stop up the
entrance, in order to prevent a fox going into it,
as Lord Elcho's hounds were to meet near it next
day. Fortunately Mr. Wilson, the owner of
the land, passed that way and saw that the
ground and stones had been lately disturbed by
me, when he removed them, and saw the two
foxes, one of which was found dead shortly after.
He ascertained that his man had stopped them in
nine days before, and that he forgot to open the
drain again.

I once crossed the Tweed at a dangerous part,
thinking that I should, by so doing, leave the
hounds and all behind. Not so ; for the huntsman
was not to be stopped, but swam his horse, as two
or three others did, across the river, Treadwell, Mr.
Robertson's^ huntsman, taking the lead. Having
thus crossed the river without gaining my point,
and running in a ring of several miles, I recrossed
the river at a spot where it was impossible for

* The late Mr. Robertson of Ladykirk. — Ed.

SANDYS STORY 115

horses to cross ; so that, being a long way round,
the hounds were stopped, and it was agreed that I
was dro^vned in the Tweed.

Having seen some part of the country on the
Enghsh side of the Tweed, I determined to cross
back to it ; and after being there a short time only,
and lying in a field of large turnips, not uncommon
in this part, I was awakened by hearing a loud
voice : " Treadwell, I wish you would draw the
hounds through this turnip field. It is a very likely
place to find a fox." This order was obeyed with
tlie utmost silence ; but fortunately, having had the
previous notice, I was off and away as fast as my
legs could carry me, and was not seen, owing to the
height of the turnips, until I reached the next field.
The hounds soon got on my scent, and pursued
me closely for about twenty -five minutes, so
extremely fast, that I began to think I had changed
my country for the worse.

Independently of their great speed, I could not
hear them, as I did those by which I had been
hunted on the other side of Tweed. I reached in
safety a small covert, in passing through which it
appeared that the hounds got on the scent of
another fox, which turned out to be a cub, and
so I escaped ; for although an old sportsman saw

116 THE LIFE OF A FOX

me after I left the covert going apparently much
distressed, and evidently the hunted fox, yet the
hounds were not allowed to be taken from that
which they were running, which it appeared they
some time afterwards killed, scarcely having left
the covert.

I had one or two more escapes from this deter-
mined huntsman and his killing pack, which escapes
I attributed to my good luck in having been hunted
by them on bad scenting days, and also in taking
refuge in drains. Learning that many of my friends
had been killed by them, I was induced to move
into Roxburghshire, the country hunted by the
Duke of Buccleuch's hounds, and adjoining the
two hunts before described to you. There I had
not been long before I was found in a small covert
by the Duke's pack, as Wilhamson the huntsman ^
calls it, though he seems to do just what he likes
with it. Be that as it may, he knew pretty well
where to find me, and it was done in a few minutes.
The hills form a part of the country that he sur-
passes most men in riding across ; and after running
over them for some time towards the Cheviots, the
blue tops of which seemed at the time to be higlier

1 Williamson was pensioned off in 186.5 and died a year or two later.
Shore, who succeeded him, still carries the horn. — Ed.

SANDY^S STORY 117

than the clouds, the hounds came to a check, owing
as it was thought, to my having overtaken some
cattle, and to too much delay in holding on the
hounds ; and I escaped.

It appeared to me that these hounds had at

the time rather too much flesh, though shortly

afterwards the fault was mended ; for I never was

pressed more by any pack in my life. Every hound

seemed to go as if he had the leading scent. All

came nearly abreast for several fields, and they

were close to me when I again took refuge in a

drain. The extraordinary scent just described

induces me to relate the events of that day from

the beginning. A remark was made before the

hounds had thrown off, by an old sportsman, as

follows. It happened that several coverts were

drawn by the hounds without their finding a fox,

although it was notorious that foxes had been on

every former day most abundant there ; on hearing

this the gentleman said, " I have often observed

that on good scenting days foxes are not to be

found, even where they are known to abound as

they do here."

" How do you account for that ? " was asked.

"Probably on these good scenting days foxes
lie under ground, or in places not disturbed by

118 THE LIFE OF A FOX

hounds, for as they live by the use of their noses,
thev cannot but know their danger of being hunted
on such days. "

The hounds were taken on some distance towards
another covert, but on passing by a small piece of
fforse, not half an acre across, thev were taken
quietly to it, and m a short time killed a fox
which had not moved from his kenneL This
created some amusement at the expense of the
gentleman who had stated his behef that it was
a good scenting day, and some one said —

" Xow, what do you think r "

" \Vhy, that I am now more sure of it : for if
this fox had moved under the circumstances when
the hounds were so close to him, the scent being
a cfood one. would have made it almost certain
death : and so his best chance of escape was to lie
still : but he has been too cunning."

Rather more than the hallooing usual when a
dead fox is given to hounds took place : and the
three men appeared to be tr}Tng who could oftenest
repeat, " Tally-ho I " The hounds were again taken
on towards the next large covert, and no sooner
were they in it than they all threw their tongues
and ran as if close to a fox, which was not the
case, for it happened to be my own scent, and I

SANDYS STORY 119

ha\-ing heard the dreadful hallooing before described,
and knowing it to be a good scenting day. had
moved away some time before the hounds had
reached the coverL although the crash they made
there seemed as if close to me, I then ran as
described before, straight to a drain about three or
four miles off: but although I had so good a start
they nearly overtook me before I reached it.
Waiting near the entrance I overheard the follow-
ing remarks : —

•' How verk* unlucky, just as the hounds were
running into him. Such a swift pace they came,
he could not have stood it five minutes longer.''
I then distinctly heard the gentleman alluded to
before exclaim, *'•' Well I I shall not be surprised if
there are half a dozen foxes in this drain : some-
where they must be."

Then another voice, " Well, Will, what do you
think now of ^Ir. Smith's foresay as to its being
a good scentinor dav f "

" ^ly lord, he was right : I never in all my life
saw the homids run so fast — ^faster they could not
go." He suddenly turned towards the man who
ought to have stopped the drain. "Hoot, mon,
how is this i The earths open at yer var\" ain
door P

120 THE LIFE OF A FOX

" Will, where's the terrier ? "

" Got none, my lord."

" Was ever the Uke ? Seventeen years I have
hunted with these hounds, and though every field
in this country is full of drains, they have never
had a terrier that was worth hanging. Jack, go
and fetch the farmer's terrier ; be off like a shot !
How can they expect to save their poultry if they
do not put gratings to their drains ? Without
them it is impossible for hounds to kill their
foxes."

Having by this time recovered my breath, I
began to move away from the entrance, when to
my surprise I found that there were no less than
three foxes in the drain beside myself. Having with
great difficulty forced myself past the first I came
against, and whilst waiting anxiously the result,
we were all much frightened by suddenly seeing a
glimpse of light some distance up the drain beyond
us. The men had dug a hole through the top of
the drain at that spot ; and shortly after this we
heard them trying to force a rough terrier of the
real INIakerston breed to enter ; they at length
succeeded, when he immediately came down straight
towards us. Not a little alarmed, and each of us
struggling and striving to get away first, out we

^4^

•■.%■■ F -

■?"'.

;■ i^

..4

SANDY'S STORY 121

all bolted, with the terrier close at our heels. The
scene Avhich followed it is almost impossible to
describe. The first fox was pursued by the greatest
number of hounds, and, as I came second, the next
greatest number followed me ; and so after us
they came ; but our saUy was so sudden that we
fortunately had gained the start of them by some
ten or twenty yards.

I think I still hear the voice of old Will crying-
out, " Every hound has got a fox ! " As I jumped
over the fence, he was still holding his whip in the
air, undecided which of the four lots (into which
the hounds had divided) he should follow. So good
was the scent on that day, that although only
about four couples of hounds followed me, I went
straight to another drain ; and, strange to say, there
found another of the same party as before, which
accounted for the two first lots of hounds leaving a
short time before they ran up to the earth. Here
our hves were again in danger ; and, hearing the
men again digging at some distance, I profited by
what had passed, and pushed beyond it. My
unfortunate fellow was again forced out by the
same terrier, and fell a victim to our foes ; who,
not suspecting that another fox was in the earth,
again left me.

122 THE LIFE OF A FOX

" Well, Will, do you recollect the foresay about
there beinjr half a dozen foxes in the last drain ? "

" I do, my lord ; and now the gentleman's fore-
says have all been fulfilled from beginning to end."

During the time they were waiting for the
terrier at the last drain, and doubting whether he
could be found, a farmer was filling in the stones at
the entrance of the drain, and being asked what he
was about, he answered, — "Why, if the terrier
don't come, we mil starve the fox to death, which
is easy to do in this drain. He has had mony
fowls ; about forty I ken."

"What's that?" said the Southron. "Pretty
sort of encouragement for a gentleman to spend so
much money in the country in keeping hounds.
Why, the Duke pays more money to the farmers in
one week than all the poultry in the hunt would
sell for in a twelvemonth ; to say nothing of all
that is spent in it by the gentlemen who hunt. If
there Avere no foxes there would be no hounds."

" Vary true, vary true," was the reply ; " but
]Mr. Williamson is raather too closefisted when he
pays a bittie o' the Duke's siller."

The worst part of the story, as relates to our-
selves, remains to be told, namely, that when they
left a hard bargain was going on for the purchase of

SANDY'S STORY 123

the terrier which had driven us out of our retreat,
and he was to be taken to the kennel for the same
employment when required, wliich, sure enough,
Avas often the case. Luckily for me he was not
mth the hounds a short time after, when I was
again found by this pack, as I lay in a wood near
Floors, belonging to the Duke of Roxburgh,
who, though no fox-hunter, is one of our best
friends, and gives his keepers strict orders never to
destroy us. But for the absence of this terrier I
must have been in jeopardy that day ; for having
heard the hounds running after another fox, I was
just stepping away to a drain close to the Tweed,
in a contrary direction, not before I was seen, and
a few hounds got on my scent, which they followed
until they reached the drain where I was. On
being told of which, old Will, the huntsman,
brought the rest of the hounds to the spot, deter-
mined to get me out. Tools were procured, and
several attempts were made, but in vain. Some
half-bred terriers were then sent for, but they would
not venture near me, nor could they a second time
be urged to go in. Other fruitless attempts were
made, and a great part of the morning was lost in
this way by a throng of hunters, and amongst them
the noble master of the pack. Whilst this was

124 THE LIFE OF A FOX

going on, and they were looking at and admiring
the beauties of the stately river, a large salmon
leaped clean out of the water, as if on pui-pose to
amuse or to tantahse them. Whereupon a gentle-
man present asked his Grace if it would give him
pleasure to have a throw with a fly for such a fish.
His fit reply might well be a source of satisfaction
and pleasure to all who hunt in countries where his
Grace has property.

" To tell the truth I care Uttle for that kind of
sport ; but, as to the other, I am never perfectly
happy unless I have on a red coat."

All at length left the place exceedingly annoyed
that the terrier, the hero of the former day, had not
been with them. Probably the bargain for him
was not completed, and consequently I escaped.

Wishing to return to my old haunts, I had got
as far as a covert called the Hirsel, belonging to
Lord Home, where I had not been long when one
day I heard two reports, which turned out to be
from the keeper's gun, discharged at two innocent
young fox-hound puppies, thus dehberately
butchered for having strayed by chance from the
hospitable home of the kind mistress whose pets
they were, and whose gentle care and caresses they
had so often enjoyed. You will not be surprised

SANDY^S STORY 125

when I tell you that our race appears to be almost
extinct about these woods.

After this tragical event I lost no time, but
went to the farthest covert belonging to this estate,
and nearly surrounded by Lord Elcho's country.
I hoped to be there as far as possible from danger,
and thought myself secure, as the outside covert
was kept quiet, and scarcely disturbed even by the
hounds of the Duke in whose hunt it is retained.
It is suspected that the keeper kills all of us foxes
that he can in that part, because no hounds hunt it
enough. He says that all the foxes in Lord
Elcho's country come there to be quiet. Be that
as it may, the last time the hounds found me there
they had before drawn all the other woods, and
only found one fox, and that a mangy one. I was
disturbed first by hearing old Will cheering his
hounds, as if he had just seen a fox, giving his cheer
thus, " Hooi-here, here, here ! " which, in any other
country, would pass for a view-halloo.

After hstening and expecting to hear the hounds
in full cry, I found it was only his customary cry in
drawing a whin covert, particularly when he wished
his hounds to get into it. I noticed that they did
not attend to the halloo so readily when a fox was
really seen. Notwithstanding this, they understood

126 THE LIFE OF A FOX

their liuntsman's system well enough to make it no
safe thing to be hunted by them. I soon left the
covert, and when they had pursued me for some
miles, and were getting nearer to me, they suddenly
came to a check ; on looking back, I saw the
huntsman almost immediately take them away
beyond the next large field, rather to the left of
where my line was hitherto pointing ; I suppose
either because there was a flock of sheep in that
field, or because he thought I had gone to a covert
in that direction. If the hounds had had their
time, they would have hit off the scent to the right
of the field. The upshot was, that I, thinking that
they had given me up, took the first opportunity of
getting out of sight, not because I was tired and
beaten, as some suppose must always be the case
when we seek such places of refuge ; which they
soon ascertained was the case, for nearly as soon as
the hounds had hunted up to the drain on one
side of the road, I started off on the other, and
though they had as good a start with me as they
could wish for, I contrived to run away from them,
owing to the scent not being good enough for
hounds to kill a stout fox without assistance ; and
probably to the huntsman repeating his former
mistake in making an injudicious forward cast

SANDY^S STORY 127

when not wanted. He did not now venture to
hold the hounds forward and across the Hne I came,
or else they would have got on the scent, as I
returned nearly the same way, which was ascertained
by a hunter on his return home, a man having seen
me.

Having escaped from this Uvely pack of hounds,
I did not venture to remain in this part, but at
once took up my abode near Foulden, where I was
again found by Lord Elcho and his pack, though I
fancied I had selected an out-of-the-way spot near
the river Whitadder, with which part 1 was well
acquainted, as his lordship has reason to know and
to regret. After they had hunted me some time,
finding myself distressed, I was induced to return to
my old haunts, creeping along a narrow track by
the side of the steep and rocky bank which overhung
the river, the height of which, where I passed, was
nearly a hundred feet. Several of these high-
couraged hounds in attempting to follow me lost
their footing, fell to the bottom, and were killed.
It was only strange that a single hound escaped ;
and though I certainly did not intend to assist in
preventing their destruction, yet such happened to
be the case ; for having waited, when in my narrow
track, for some time, and thinking myself safe, I

128 THE LIFE OF A FOX

heard the piercing cry of a hound, which I then
beUeved was following me. I ran straight along the
top of the precipice, and was seen by the whipper-
in and some of the homids, and the noise they
instantly made by hallooing a view with all their
might, assisted by his lordship blo^^dng his horn,
attracted the notice of the other homids, or they
would otherwise have followed on the hne to certain
destruction. I attribute my escape to the powerful
effect this event had on the feelings of the OA\'ner of
the pack. Lest I should again lead them back to
the same spot, he immediately took them off my
scent and sent them home, and I flattered myself
that we should never again see these hounds run to
find a fox in this part of the country ; for the
anguish created in his lordship's mind it is impossible
for me to describe, although it may be easily
imagined.

However, all my hopes of living a quiet life here
were destroyed. A great friend of his lordship's,
and of ours, Mr. AVilkie of Foulden, near where
this occurred, and on whose rabbits I sometimes
subsisted, immediately took measures to prevent
the same calamity from happening again ; and
although it was hitherto pronounced an impossibihty,
he has, as far as I at present can judge of it.

SANDY'S STORY 129

succeeded. It was managed by cutting away my
narrow track at the edge of the rock which over-
hung the river. To do this required much labour
and risk ; but it was effected by suspending a ladder,
which was fastened by strong ropes to stakes driven
in the ground some distance above. I need not
say that I watched the work with no great satisfac-
tion ; and as I saw the foundation of my once
favourite track fall into the river below, when they
gradually broke it away, it made my heart ache.
I felt that I must now either stay and be killed, or
move into another country. I decided on the latter.
Although I vowed in an hour of distress, when
first hunted by the hounds there, never to run the
risk of them again if I escaped, I recrossed the
Tweed into England, and have taken up my quarters
on one of the highest parts of the Cheviot Hills,
hoping to find a safe retreat from them. There are,
however, dangers to be dreaded there, as well as in
every country where hounds are not kept to hunt
us ; but the system of destruction to be dreaded by
me is one that is adopted on mountainous parts
alone. The shepherds of the mountains on certain
days gather together against us, armed with guns,
and aided by dogs of all sorts, from the greyhound
to the colUe. The sagacity and docihty of the latter

130 THE LIFE OF A FOX

are very astonishing ; but the sagacity of an old dog
of the fox-hound sort is superior to that of every
other. The collie dog is taught by man what to do,
whilst the old fox-hound teaches his master. Had it
not been for the sagacity of the hound, I should have
been spared many a perilous run. The shepherds
pretend that the breed of the mountain fox is of a
different kind from our own, and that the head of
the male is larger. For my own part, I beUeve the
animals to be of the same kind as ourselves, and to
be merely larger altogether ; for I have sometimes
met one in my rambles. Their superior size may
be accounted for as follows : having been born or
bred in the wholesome air upon the mountains,
where food, such as rabbits, is probably scarce, they
find and fatten upon sheep which from various
accidents die there. Having once got a taste for
such food, it is not surprising that they will take a
lamb, or attack an old one which has fallen through
illness or neglect. Anxious as I am to protect my
own race, I cannot blame the shepherds for waging
war against the transgressors ; as it is known that
when once a fox has taken to such a habit, he seldom
gives it up but with his life. Felons are to be found
everyw^here ; but, as to ourselves, the following facts
will prove that the generality of us are not guilty

SANDYS STORY 131

of charges frequently laid upon us. On the first
day of February last, being the last day of pheasant
shooting, 1 was lying in a thick plantation, in the
middle of a park at Ladykirk, on the other side
of the Tweed, which covered a space of ground
not more than a quarter of an acre, when a party
were shooting not far off, and I suddenly heard one
of them exclaim, " Look out, there goes a fox ! he
jumped up close by me. There he goes, straight
away. I wish the hounds were here."

In the course of an hour after this, I was again
startled by hearing, " Tally-ho ! taUy-ho ! there
goes another fox ! Don't mistake hiin for a hare,
and shoot him ; he's close to you, in the clump
between ! " And then again the same loud voice, —
" There he goes, right across the park ; what a fine
fellow he is ! "

It shortly afterwards became my turn to exhibit.
They came to the clump where I was, and a man
who went in beyond directly called out, " There
goes a hen pheasant, there go two, three ! " and so
on. He had just cried out, "That makes thirteen
hen pheasants ! " when a spaniel rushed into the
thick bushes, and obhged me to face the whole
party. A glorious cheering they gave me ; and
when they had expressed their surprise and satisfac-

132 THE LIFE OF A FOX

tion, the keeper assured them of his beUef, that there
were as many pheasants left as had been there at
the begmning of the season, excepting those that
had been shot by sportsmen. Now if I, or any of
us, were so much given to destroy game as we are
reported to be, there would not have been a pheasant
left alive in a week's time from the beginning of
the season, whereas it was now nearly the end of it.
This fortunately occurred in the presence of several
persons, who saw all three of us. No less than five
other foxes from the same park have been killed
by Lord Elcho and his pack this season.

Hoping that I have given you all sufficient
encouragement to induce you to make us a \dsit in
the north, I conclude my story.

CONCLUSION

One more friend was about to begin his story.
Whether he was from York, Lincohi, Nottingham,
or Bedfordshire, was not ascertained, for on a
sudden we were startled by the cawing of an old
crow and the screams of a jay, which, added to the
chatterings of a couple of magpies, warned us that
daylight was appearing ; and I was reluctantly
obliged to request that his story might be deferred
to some future time, should we ever meet again,
when we might all have more to relate concerning
the inexhaustible subject of our lives. Chanticleer
now clapped admiring wings, and sang out a loud
applause. This excited the particular notice of one
of our party, who exclaimed, " I'll go round and
have a sly bite at his tail, for 'tis a quiet retired
place, and no one yet about."

"Take heed," said I, "that thou bring us not
into trouble."

Soon afterwards we were again interrupted by

134 THE LIFE OF A FOX

the clamour of those tell-tale birds ; for it seems
that our friend was returning without his intended
booty, having been seen by the keeper, wlio fast
approached towards us. Therefore, hastily bidding
adieu until we should meet again, we all returned
to our favourite coverts.

EXTRACTS

FROM THE

DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

PREFACE

The writer, a master of fox-hounds for some years,
is aware that it will be easy to discover that these
observations were not designed to appear in the
world, ^\Titten as they were for his own satisfaction
alone, until the repeated requests of many induced
him to offer them ; possibly owing to the circum-
stances of having hunted his own hounds with fair
success, and the fact of having killed ninety foxes
in ninety-one days' hunting, one season, in a bad
scenting country. If they should be read and
chance to amuse, well and good ; reputation by
■WTiting them was not the object sought. They were
put down just as they came into his head, principally
on his return in the evening after hunting. There-
fore he does not affect so strict an observance of
rules as one who makes a profession of writing, and
gains a reputation by his pen, else they should have

138 PREFACE

been arranged in a better method. Although
acquired by study, long thought, and strict observa-
tion, if they have any value, it is their originahty.
His hope is, by attempting to make them sharp,
short, and decisive, to induce men to read them ;
and if they should be the means of promoting the
taste for hunting — a sport to which this country is
indebted for the superiority of its officers over most
other nations, etc., as well as the social feeUng which
it creates in the country where hounds are kept —
he will have gained his point.

CHAPTER I

HUNTSMAN

. . . by chase our forefathers earn'd their food.
Toil strung their nerves and purified their blood.

X^VMi]ly^,0^y^^ N early find is desk

mi" ' "

able, and, as the
huntsman should al-
ways be at the head,
it is right to com-
mence these observa-
tions with him ; for
on him not only does
the sport in general
depend, but the cheer
of a good one when
he fii'st finds his fox, creates that indescribable
sensation which nothing else has ever been knoAvn
to do. Who can hear the cheer of the huntsman,
added to the cry of the hounds and the blowing of

140 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

the horn, Avithout being inspired? Indeed it is
quite a source of regret whenever a clever hunts-
man has not naturally a pleasant, melodious voice,
instead of one probably that may be compared to
the grunting of a pig — which has been the case
before now. When this is the case, he should try
every method to improve it. It should be recol-
lected, that many men who go out with hounds have
no opportunity of enjoying the sport beyond the
find, which is, with the assistance of the voice, often
one of the best parts of the day's sport ; but to
make it so vox et prceterea nihil will not do, for
unless he has a soul for sport, even when most in
earnest he cannot cause such delightful sensations
to thrill through you as ought, and as always did,
by the voice of such a man as old Luke, huntsman to
the late Duke of Richmond, and Lord Egremont.

To be perfect, a huntsman should possess the
following qualifications : health, memory, decision,
temper, and patience, a good ear, voice, and sight,
courage and spirits, perseverance and activity ; and
with these he will soon make a bad pack a good
one : if quick, he will make a slow pack quick ; if
slow, he will make a quick pack slow. But first,
to become a good one, he must have a fair chance,
and should not be interfered with by any one after

HUNTSMAN 141

he leaves the place of meeting ; previous to which,
on all occasions, it would be best if the master of
the hounds was to arrange with him which covers
should be drawai first, etc. It rarely happens that
two men think exactly alike, and unless he is
capable of judging for himself after the above
arrangement (which had much better be made
overnight), the master is to blame in keeping him ;
but if he is capable, the master is to blame for
interfering ; for, consequently, the man will be ever
thinking — what does master think ? and will not
gain that independence of thought and action so
necessary on most occasions to be a match for
a fox. For instance, at a check there are many,
apparently trifling ideas and thoughts in a hunts-
man's head which he cannot explain to his master,
when asked why he does this or that. Instead of
answering, he drops his bridal-hand and Ustens to his
master, although he has made observation of trifles,
which are often all he has for his guidance and
frequently are sufficient to recover his fox, though
probably no other person noticed them, — such as
this : the pack is running best pace ; he sees one
hound turn his head and fling to the right or left a
pace or two ; shortly after there is a check (say
500 yards). When he has made the usual casts, he

142 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

recollects the hound turning his head, and then
goes back and finds that the fox had headed back
so far, and hits off the scent ; but he could or
would not tell any one why he was going back.
It is such Uke trifling observations that huntsmen
profit by, though unnoticed by others. It is true,
many men who keep hounds are good sportsmen ;
but then, unless the huntsman is a fool, he soon fuids
it out, and gladly looks for a hint from his master
when at a loss ; in short, he must be allowed and
encouraged to have a good opinion of himself, or
he will not gain confidence ; and if he has not that,
he will not have the fii'st and greatest qualification,
namely, decision. A want of this has saved half
the foxes now living in hunting countries. It is
not here meant, that for want of decision huntsmen
do nothing ; they go on, it is true, but in their own
minds have not decided on what sort of cast to make,
or what to be at ; therefore, the huntsman should
never be taken by surprise, but be constantly on
the lookout for mischief, he will thus gain decision.
It is necessary for a huntsman to be thoroughly
acquainted with the nature of the animal he is
hunting, and also that he hunts with ; for he will
learn more from them than from the whole world
besides. From the fox he will learn cunning ; and

HUNTSMAN 143

from an old hound, sagacity. In short, he will do
well when in chase to consider what he would do
was he himself the fox he is hunting ; thereby he
will always anticipate a check, and cast his hounds
the way he should have gone had he been the fox, —
which, it may generally be observed, will be a hne of
country where he would avoid being seen, unless
there is some local cause for it. By attending to
this, he will be prepared for a check in many
instances a mile before he gets to it, if he knows
the country, and keeps his eyes open ; he must, to
do this, have only half an eye for the pack, and the
other eye and half beyond it ; and he will also soon
discover whether the fox is one he has hunted
before by the Hne he takes, and other pecuharities,
— even the ring he takes in cover, the rack he uses
in fences, — which observations are of great assist-
ance a second time, but more particularly so later
in the season, for a whole litter of young foxes
have been known to run the same line of country.

Other observations in chase are worthy of
notice. He will find it no uncommon thing for a
fox in chase to pass over several earths which are
not stopped, and go on straight for several miles
beyond them ; but when he finds that he cannot
shake off" the pack, and is a little distressed, he will

144 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

head back to the nearest earth he has come over
which was open, and go to ground, unless the
whipper-in is desired to clap back quickly and get
there fost and stop it, or stand on it, if, as in a
neighbouring country, the laws of fox-hunting do
not allow a whipper-in to stop it. But it is no
uncommon thing when a fox heads back in this
way to an earth, if the whipper-in gets there
first, for the fox to be killed immediately on the
earth, so very nearly do they calculate their re-
maining strength. This knowledge and recollection
of the fox ha\ang passed over earths which are
supposed to be open, mil be a guide for a hunts-
man to make a cast, if beaten out of scent, by cold
hunting back.

In the first place, it will be necessary to find
your fox, which you will best do by drawing up
wind, or he will find you, and be off*, if a good one,
before you are aware of it ; and this, was there no
other, would be a sufficient reason. Hounds
naturally draw up wind to any scent or drag of a
fox, and early in the season it is of the greatest
consequence to young hounds, if, when some are
running riot, most hkely down wind, behind the
huntsman, they can hear his voice, and then a rate
and a smack of the whip from the whipper-in sends

HI'NTS^LVN 145

them on to him at once : but if the hmitsman was
down wind of them, though they may stop at the
rate, not hearing liim go at it again, they would
probably be left to run riot for the day. Even if
the pack have found and went away they would not
hear it, being up wind : but, if they were left down
wind and the pack were running, then the young
hounds must hear it, and would most probably join
the cry.

Different men have different ways of drawing
covers, but there can be no doubt that the best
way to make a pack draw well is, to go steadily
through covers with homids. where it is possible ; if
not, then to take the best side-^ind of it first
A^"hen a cover is supposed to be drawn, a hmitsman
will do well to notice whether he has got all his
hounds. If any old ones are left back, he may
depend on it there is some good cause — no doubt a
stroke of a fox or drag keeps them — and a httle
patience, and even encomagement by name, may
be thought right, particulariy if they happen to be
homids that usually find, and m all packs there are
a few of that sort.

There is another method of drawinor. which
cannot be thought a good one by sportsmen m
general, though it is not miusuaL The hmitsman

146 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

throws his hounds into a cover, through which he
cannot ride, and is obhged to keep outside. As
soon as the hounds are in, away he trots round the
outside, thinking that by getting to the opposite
side of the cover he will be able to draw them
through by his voice ; but the consequence is that
three parts of the pack, hearing him trot away, turn
their heads and follow outside, and are apt to be on
the watch for it ever afterwards. Had he gone
steadily on, though outside, they would have drawn
it properly. That hounds should be apt to dread
being left behind is not much to be wondered at,
considering the quickness with which they get away
after their fox.

When hounds are not in the habit of drawing
furze (in the upper countries called gorse or whins),
they will draw it best in the morning, when there
is a drag into it ; and by going round the cover
quietly they will feel it, and go well in. By going
on round it, the hounds will also find all the open
parts and more readily get in, than if the huntsman
rides up to one side only, and then tries to force
them to go in ; than which nothing has a more
disgusting effect.

In large covers it often happens that several
foxes are on foot at the same time, and there is

HUNTSMAN 147

great difference of opinion whether, if your hounds
are running a fox, or more than one, and another is
viewed away fi'om the cover, you should get your
hounds off the fox they are running and take the
flyer ; or stick to the one they are running. If
sport is the object, decidedly the flyer is the fox to
give it. Another reason for adopting this plan is
that, after the season begins, the field have a right
to expect sport. But if it is necessary to rattle
covers, and stay in them for the purpose of
making all the foxes fly, it should be done before
regular hunting begins, or have a by-day for it now
and then ; otherwise, a whole season may pass
without a run from this cover, for there are foxes
that never will break cover. Of course, if no fox
goes away, these must be killed if you can. But
such covers as these generally do hold a stranger
that has probably been hunted so much in his
native covers that he is on a quiet visit only, and
goes home at the first notice when he hears the
huntsman's voice. After the first of February it
should be a rule to get away with the first fox, as
you may otherwise get on a vixen ; indeed most of
the good runs are from large covers, and generally
with a dog fox.

The wi'iter not long since met the pack belong-

148 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

ing to a noble Duke when they were drawmg a
large cover. His Grace politely expressed his regret
that it was a bad cover to get away from with
hounds ; the reply was that generally the best runs
are from such covers, as the fox can get away with-
out being headed as they are in small covers, when
every tailor out wishes to get a view of him.
During this conversation a fox broke away from
the other side, and they got well settled to him
and after a good run killed, which is not often the
case when found in this way ; for the fox has time
to prepare himself, and will hang about the cover
until he is fit to go, during which he is abused as a
dunghill brute, etc., but when he does go, catch him
who can. But the same fox which has beaten hounds
into fits almost, if he had been whipped up out
of his kennel in a bit of gorse, would not have stood
a burst of twenty minutes. A little observation in
the upper countries may prove the above, for if a
fox hangs about in a bit of gorse for half an hour
or so before he breaks, it takes a great deal to kill
him, though the pack were close at him when he
started. And there are foxes that can beat any
hounds, if they have time to prepare themselves,
and have a fair start.

In most covers there is a favourite quarter which

HUNTSMAN 149

holds a fox, and the sooner that is drawn the better ;
for if it is a good scenting day and there is a drag,
the fox is aware of it, and will be off the moment
he hears the huntsman's voice ; therefore, as no
man can tell till he has tried whether it is a good
scenting day or not, he should adopt the safe plan
and find him quickly if he can, particularly if late
in the year. A fox generally hes where the rays of
the sun can reach him during the day, — in two-year-
old coppice wood, etc. It is worthy of notice that
one cover will generally hold a fox, when another
adjoining it seldom or ever does. By the middle
of the season a huntsman will, or ought to, know
where to put his hand on a fox (if there is one in the
country), let him be in what part he may, but to do
this he must be very observant on all occasions.

To have even spirits (not easily dejected) is also a
requisite for a huntsman, otherwise on bad scenting
seasons he will often go home without his fox, and
will be apt to feel disheartened, and that he is never
to kill another. But this will not do, although his
hounds after a continuation of it will scarcely turn
to a halloo, and it requires the patience of Job to
put up with what one hears and sees ; for some men
will say, it is all the huntsman's fault that the
hounds will not draw ; some, it is the fault of the

150 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

hounds ; others, that they are too high fed ; others,
too low ; in short, no end to complaints. But a
change of scent does come ; and the same hounds
which would not leave his horse's heels, no sooner
get sight of the cover they are to draw, than in they
fly, and not a hound is to be seen, find their fox,
and turn at a word across flints and fallows, and
probably kill every fox they find for weeks follow-
ing. This again requires evenness of spirits, else
the delusive conceit that he can kill any fox with
half a scent, will only be the cause of greater
annoyance on a return to bad scent. It is not
meant that he should feel indifferent whether he
killed or not ; for if he could go home, to bed, and
to sleep, without satisfying himself as to what
became of his fox, he would not do for some people.
It is no uncommon thing to hear men who have
nothing to do with the hounds say, "WeU, never
mind ; we have had a good day's sport. He is a
good fox, and will show us another," etc. This is
all very well, but it wiU not do for a huntsman.
The better the run, the more anxious he will be
to kill, or run to ground ; for, without either, it is
not perfect, and may be compared to a fox without
a brush, — having the matchless beauties combined,
and yet not perfect ; for he should always give an

HUNTSMAN 151

account of his fox if he can. And if he wishes to
have plenty, he must kill them ; for, however
strange it may appear, it is the only way to ensure
a stock in the country ; and at the same time you
secure the support and assistance of the farmers,
and those keepers who are not maliciously disposed,
when it is known that you do kill all you can, and
do not go home satisfied by saying, " Oh ! we have
had a good run, and he will show us another " ; then
they will not kill them. But how can it be sup-
posed that any farmer will hke the thought of
seeing the same ground and fences ridden over con-
stantly, owing to one particular fox being too stout
to be killed by hounds, or that there is no wish to
kill him ? or can it be the same pleasure to be
always riding the same line of country ? Therefore
it is right to kill when you can.

That a huntsman should be a bold rider is proved
by every check the hounds come to when he is
away ; for even when he is present, he will have
enough to do to prevent overriding. But, unless
he can ride at the head and see the very spot
on which they throw up, he will be puzzled to
know whom to apply to of those forward, and must
often use his own judgment ; in short, the greatest
use he can be of, when there is a good scent, is to

152 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

prevent men doing mischief. Therefore he must
have nerve to ride well up, and equal to any man
in the kingdom ; for, unless he can be forward
enough to look men in the face, and request them
to hold hard, he may ride behind and call after them
till he is hoarse, and they will not turn their heads —
probably beUeving that jealousy alone is the cause,
and they go the faster for it ; but if he is in his
place, none but a madman will do mischief if
requested to pull up ; even the hard riders from the
universities (that is, if they can stop their horses)
will do so. But if a huntsman feels obUged to
speak on these occasions, it should be at them
rather than to them ; thus — " Hold hard ; pray,
black horse, hold hard ! " Few men like to be
attacked by name, even when they have done mis-
chief, nor does a huntsman feel comfortable if he
has been led to speak sharply in the heat of the
chase ; for, on second thoughts, he will recollect
that it was the ardour which he most Ukes to see,
that led them on.

It is not only right that a huntsman should keep
with his hounds in the open, but it is of the greatest
consequence for him to do so when his hounds are
running in cover ; particularly if the fox has been
hunted, and at all beaten. He must not allow

HUNTSMAN 153

anything to make him lose the cry of the pack, but
keep within hearing at all hazards ; for, although
it sometimes appears that all is going so well, that
he may stand still and let them come round, and
that he will meet them. But if he does this he will
surely repent it, nine times out of ten ; something
is certain to happen, when least expected; the
merest trifle may bring them to a check, which he
would have seen and got over, had he been there ;
therefore, never leave them. If no other means, he
should keep down wind enough ; for if they divide
when he does not hear the leading hounds, he is just
as likely to go away with a fresh fox as not, and
leave his beaten one in the cover, which is the
cause of so many foxes escaping. But if he does
stick to them, and never lose the cry of the leading
hound, even if only one, when they divide, he gets
on with the right, and, by cheering and the use of
the horn, he may keep to his right fox. Although
the crash with the other lot is much greater, this
hound will not leave the hunted one ; and if a
whipper-in is active, he will soon stop the others,
even if there be eighteen couple out of twenty
running the fresh fox. When an old fox has come
some distance, and is a little beaten, he turns so
short in cover, that, unless a huntsman is within

154 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

hearing when he does come up at a check, he is at
a loss how to act, and had better stand perfectly
quiet, and let the old hounds do it, or it is probable
he will do miscliief by holding them either way ;
besides, it does hounds so much harm not letting
them get out of difficulties themselves — in cover
particularly. But had he been up at the check, or
near enough to have heard w^hich way the leading
hound was bearing, he might have profited by it,
if they did not hit it off quickly. Here it is where
foxes beat hounds, principally owing to a hunts-
man not exerting himself to the very utmost ; but,
fancying that the hounds will be sure to kill him,
they fooUshly think it of no consequence, and take
it too quietly.

More foxes are lost when dead beaten than at
any other time ; and here show their superior
cunning, by the wonderful tricks they play the
hounds. For instance, when the pack is close at him
in cover, and he goes through the outside fence of
the cover only, instead of going into the field, he
drops down into the ditch, and every hound goes
over him. The pack then make a swing outside,
during which he crawls up the bank back again
into cover, and gets probably to the other side
before they cast back ; by which time the scent.

HUNTSMAN 155

owing to the gi-ound being stained, gets bad, and he
has probably time to get fresher, and often steals
away mthout behig seen, as all the men are close to
the hounds, with the belief that they will kill the
next minute. But on these occasions, if the hunts-
man is awake, he will always order one of the
whippers-in to remain at the opposite side of the
coyer. Independent of its being the best plan to
kill a hunted fox, by sticking to the pack and cheer-
ing them in coyer, it is the most Ukely means of
making a fresh fox break coyer, without any wide
hounds getting on him, for it keeps the pack
together, and makes any other foxes fly. Indeed
it sometimes happens that the leading hounds kill
their fox in coyer, though not often, and then join
the body of the pack, which are on a fresh one ;
which, unless a huntsman has kept his ear to, he
is not aware of.

There is a wide difference of opinion, as to
whether a large pack or a small one is best in large
covers, where the object is to get away Avith one,
or to make him fly or die. Although foxes are apt
to hang in these covers it appears easy to prove
that the smallest pack — say seventeen couple — has
the advantage in many ways ; and is more likely to
make a fox fly, or kill him, than a pack of twenty-

156 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

five or thirty couple. In the first place, a large
cover generally holds more than one fox, often
several ; therefore, as a small pack is more likely to
keep together when running in cover than a large
one, there is less chance of changing, for it is
impossible for a large pack to keep together long,
when the ground is stained. The tail hounds have
no scent to lead them on to keep pace with the
forward hounds, consequently, when a little be-
hind they cut across to get to them when they
turn, and, in doing this, often cross the hne of
another fox ; when, owing to there being so many
hounds behind, they make so great a cry, that if it
happens the leading hounds check at the time, it is
ten to one but that they join the tail hounds, which
would not have been the case if only one or two,
or a few only, were running the fresh fox, as there
would not have been such a crash. Consequently,
when a fox is pressed so much, he will often fly ;
but had they once changed, it would have been
different, and he would have stayed in cover
probably ; besides which, the ground is not so much
stained, and also, by sticking to one, others find it
best to get out of the way.

It often happens when a fox goes straight away
for several miles a pretty good pace, it is evident

HUNTSMAN 157

from a sudden turn the hounds make that he is
afraid to go on, and begins to head back. If, on
occasions of this sort, he beats them out of scent
and all hunting is at an end, the best plan is to
finish with trotting back to the cover where he was
found ; most hkely he will be got there, unless you
go back with the hounds too quickly, for a fox often
stops and Hstens when he finds he is not pressed,
and should he hear the huntsman, or get wind of
the pack on their way back, he will bear off, or lie
down, which is one reason why he is not more
easily beaten. If instead foxes were to go on
straight, best pace, they could not stand it as
they do, therefore it requires judgment in not
getting back to the cover too quickly. This
may be called, though unfairly so, Hfting hounds ;
but it is not so, for it would not be done until
every other cast had been made. The question
therefore is this, if the hounds cannot hunt
or feel a scent, will you adopt this plan, or go
home ? Some may say, neither, but go and find a
fresh fox. By all means do this, if the pack have
not done much and another can be found quickly ;
but in most countries it is easier said than done,
and when doubtful, it is better to give the hounds
this chance of recovering their first fox, or probably

158 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

you may draw blank till nearly dark, and when you
have found, all the men who were so very urgent
for you to give up your first and find a fresh one,
have left you to hunt alone, although you did it to
oblige them, as your hounds had done a good day's
work, instead of killing your first by perseverance.
Besides, the recovery of a good fox in a brilliant run
makes a good finish, and is enjoyed much more by
every one than finding a second when horses are
half tired. There is httle chance of doing much
with an afternoon fox, when the mettle is taken
out of your pack in the morning ; and a huntsman
must take care not to beat his pack too often, or a
repetition will make any pack slack.

When a huntsman is requested to di-aw for a
second fox late in the day, it would be a fair
question to put, " Gentlemen, we have had hard
work lately, and have some distance home ; but if
I do find, will you promise not to leave me till it is
finished ? "

It is no uncommon thing to hear it said that
halloos do more harm than good. This in some
measure is quite true, and at times they are a great
nuisance ; but there are times when a man would
give half he is worth for one, and then, when it is
so valuable, few men have coolness enough to take

HUNTSMAN 159

the best means of profiting by it, by riding with his
hounds up to the spot, and coolly, distinctly, and
most dehberately inquiring where the fox was seen —
the identical spot, if possible — which way he was
going, where he came from, and how long since ?
For obvious reasons, the person who halloos is over-
anxious to tell his tale, and if hurried will point out
so-and-so, scarcely knowing what he is about.
Besides this gives the hounds time to get their
wind, and put their noses down, instead of flying
beyond the scent, or taking the scent-heel ; and if
the time does not agree, which is often the case,
though the question is not even asked, the huntsman
can then leave it, and return ; for by going off with
the scent at once, he would be getting on one, either
fresher or staler than that he was hunting. It must
be a very young hand who has not found out this,
but old heads forget it.

Also when a huntsman takes his hounds to a
halloo, where a fox has crossed a ride in cover, he
should, on ascertaining the spot, pull up ten or twelve
paces before he gets to it, the hounds being at his
horse's heels, and by turning his horse's head out of
the road the same way the fox went, he will get them
in on the side he wished ; but had he ridden on quite
to the spot, they were just as Ukely to take it heel

160 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

as not, and more so, if the fox was going down
wind. Simple as this plan is, many runs have been
lost by not adopting it, for they may have taken
the scent-heel through the whole side of the cover.
Much cheering and hallooing to hounds by a
huntsman is generally disapproved of, but in large
woodlands it keeps hounds together ; sometimes
it makes your hunted fox fly, and also is the cause
of other foxes breaking another day, for they recollect
it, and having got well off before, try it again. Few
men have lungs to stand it, nor would they do it
from choice, but the fact that hounds will come to
a good shrill view-halloo quicker than to any horn
in the world is beyond a doubt. Such is the effect
of a real good cheer on hounds, that they actually
jump round, so excited can they be made by it.
Not so with a horn ; it is true they will come to it,
which is enough. If it is used frequently, it is
thought by some to lose its effect on hounds. But
in bad scenting countries, when it is necessary to
cheer hounds a great deal to get them together, and
to make them draw or hunt, the more assistance a
man can get from his horn the better, or his voice
cannot last if his constitution does ; therefore he
had better even use his horn occasionally in drawing
to get hounds on, and to let them know where he

HUNTSMAN 161

is. It will also assist in moving a fox. By this
method he will have voice left to halloo and cheer
when they have found. This is only necessary in
bad scenting countries, but in a good one no fear
but all men have voice enough, and lucky indeed
are they who do not require it, for it is mere play
in comparison. Few men who hunt hounds in the
north, know what a bad scenting country is. Let
them ask Tom Sebright, one of the best, who now
hunts Lord FitzwiUiam's hounds ; as he once hunted
part of Hampshire, the Hambledon country, half
a season with Mr. Osbaldiston's hounds, he well
knows the difference it made both to himself and
his hounds, — so much so that no money would have
kept him there, even had the hounds remained ; for
what is called in these lower countries a fair holding:
scent, in the upper countries they would call insuffer-
able, and whip off and find a fresh fox. But if the
same scent was to be always given up in the other
cold-scenting country, they would not kill a fox in
a month, and hounds might also as well be given
up altogether.

Huntsmen are apt to think that their hunted fox
must be more beaten than is the case, and often
hang about at a check, trying every hedgerow, and
expecting to see the hounds lay hold of him ; but

M

162 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

it would be wiser, instead of dwelling so long, if
they first made all their forward casts completely,
and then came back. It certainly is no uncommon
thing for a fox to lie down and be left behind
altogether ; and it has often happened that he has
been found lying in a ditch, or some odd place, on
the return of the hounds. But had he gone on dur-
ing the time they were ferreting out all these places,
it would probably be of Httle use afterwards if the
hounds did hit off the scent.

It is no uncommon thing for a good fox, on his
being first found, to go up wind for a mile or two,
and then head short down wind, and never turn
again. Probably instinct tells him that hounds will
go such a pace up wind, that they will be a httle
blown, and that the change of scent down wind
creates a slight check, which gives him the
advantage.

Few things are so necessary for a huntsman to
acquire as a thorough knowledge of the country he
hunts. For to make a good cast when in difficulties,
he should have a map of the country in his head.
Unless he always knows the exact situation of the
covers near during the chase, he cannot be prepared
ofF-hand to make a proper cast, so as to take the
narrowest parts between the covers ; indeed he

HUNTSMAN 163

should be able to point with his hand direct to any
cover named, let him be where he will, even if in
the middle of a wood. It is truly remarkable how
very few men appear to have thought this necessary.
These observations relating to huntsmen will
nearly finish with one of the greatest consequence,
which, though often unattended to, should be
so most strictly, on the principle that whatever is
Avorth doing at all is worth doing welL There is
nothing more disheartening to a field of sportsmen,
than for a huntsman or master of hounds to trifle
with them — pi'etending to draw for a fox, when
it is evident that they do not intend to let the
hounds find one if they can help it — by taking them
through the parts of a cover quickly where there is
no lying, although there is plenty on the other side,
which they avoid, knowing it would be a certain
find if they would let the hounds draw it ; or prob-
ably missing other sure places, and drawing unhkely
ones, until their time is spun out that they may go
home. This is an unpardonable trick. Why not
at once say, We wiU go home, gentlemen ? If this
conduct proceeds from slackness in a huntsman, it is
high time he should be drafted — his day is gone
by. But, if there is any reason for his not wishing
to find again, let him say so, and people will be

164 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

satisfied, and go home without being disgusted.
This seldom happens with men who hunt their own
hounds, and it makes up for many deficiencies when
men know that if sport is to be got, he will try, at
all events ; but every huntsman who has any head
knows pretty weU by the middle of the season where
to put his hand on a fox (if there is one in the
country), unless by accident it has been moved. If
not, he is not half a huntsman.

Huntsmen, and men who keep hounds, are very
apt to express themselves warmly on discovering
that a fox has been injured, or if they think there
has been an attempt to poison one, owing to his
being mangy. But, if possible, they had better not
express their thoughts, unless they can prove it and
bring it home to the man, for nothing provokes a
gentleman so much who does not hunt as to have
it even hinted that his servants destroy foxes. It is
a sort of reflection on a man's dignity to suppose
that his servants would commit an act of this sort
contrary to the master's wish. If there are grounds
for suspicion, they had better not be stated openly,
but represented by the master of the hounds, or
some intimate friend of the gentleman, to whom
every act of courtesy is due. Depend upon it, it is
a mistaken notion that any man can be bullied into

HUNTSMAN 165

a thing of this sort ; for although he may apparently
give way to the wishes of numbers, yet no man
forgets that he has been treated harshly.

Deer are often the cause of much trouble to a
huntsman with a pack of fox-hounds, and although
he may flatter himself that he has got the steadiest
pack possible, the most trifling accident may make
them otherwise. And young hounds cannot be taken
too often amongst deer during the summer before
they are entered, and they should not be taken
out to exercise with the old hounds till just before
cub-hunting, if they are at aU before that begins,
by which time they ought to be tolerably handy
and thoroughly used to see riot. But the following
account of an accident with the writer's pack will
probably be sufficient to make others more cautious.
At the end of the summer in the month of August,
when the wTiter was from home, his men, to save
trouble, unknown to him took out the young hounds
with the old ones to exercise, and were passing
through a park full of deer, where they had con-
stantly been all the summer without having shown
the shghtest sign of riot. On going through some
fern a young hare jumped up, and some of the
young hounds took after her, directly into a herd
of deer. The men foohshly rode after them, rating

166 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

them at the same time. This set the deer rmming,
and with them the young hounds, and by hallooing
to them some of the two -and three -year hunters
broke away. This caused them to halloo more, so
that at last the whole pack joined, but fortunately
did not pull one down before they were got away.
The writer, on hearing of, it came home, took them
out cub -hunting earUer than usual; and on the
first day, having kiUed a brace of cubs after running
six hours incessantly, ventured to take them amongst
the deer. At first they were quiet, but at length
a young hound broke away, and shortly afterwards
two-thirds of the pack. They were with difficulty
stopped, then tied up to the park pales and flogged,
about fifty in a row, tiU all hands were tired. A
few days after all the most vicious were taken there
by themselves in couples, or rather three together ;
but this was of no use, they soon broke away and
were punished. This continued for six weeks from
daybreak till the afternoon, by which time every
hound was perfectly steady. Amongst other plans,
a deer was constantly put in the kennel for several
hours every day, and if a hound looked at it, he
was rated or punished. A few of the very worst
were di-afted, but the pack was never steadier than
during the season after it ; and although great part

HUNTSMAN 167

of the cub-hunting was lost, they killed more foxes
than any other season that the writer kept hounds.
This trouble was bad enough, but it was still worse
to be told on all sides at the time that it would
be impossible ever to break them, or to hunt the
forest or where deer were again. By many this
would have been beheved, but having fortunately
heard it stated by one of the best sportsmen some
years before, that he used to hunt with Mr. Land,
who kept hounds at Hambledon, and hunted the
forest of Brere just before it was enclosed, and whose
hounds used to hunt both deer and fox at different
seasons of the year — that is, the deer during the
summer, and fox during the winter — in the same
forest; and the wi'iter has since been credibly in-
formed from others in that country that, after a
week or fortnight hunting fox, they were as steady
to fox as if they had never hunted deer, which
were now constantly crossing them. But it is fair
and right to add, that in those days this gentleman
did not enter so many young hounds, and these
were not entered till the fox-hunting season began,
and of course, did not hunt deer till the following
summer.

The following is a sketch of a general cast, made by
the writer for many years. Although the principle

168 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

of it, at starting, is startling, yet few succeed better,
namely, that of first holding the hounds the way
he does not think the fox is gone. Thus, when at
a check and the pack have made their own swing,
he then holds them round to the right or left,
whichever is most up wind, consequently this side
would have been the most unlikely, for they probably
would not have checked at first had it been right,
owing to its being rather up wind ; when, if it
does happen to be right, they hit it off directly, so
that it takes scarcely a minute to hold them round
back, behind the spot where they checked, about
a hundred yards or so. He then turns and takes
a httle wider circle back, round in front all the
way, to the left the same distance, till he reaches
or nearly so, the line he came to behind the check
at first. Now having ascertained for certain that
his fox is not gone back, or short to the right or
left, he can with confidence begin a wider cast
than he would have ventured to make otherwise,
owing to a fear that the fox had headed back, or
to the right or left. The wide cast he commences
on the left from behind, progressing according to
his judgment, and selecting the best seen ting-ground
forward beyond any fallow or bad scenting-ground.
As he now knows that the fox must be gone on.

T. Smith, Esq., del.

^

^^?^4>,^

Sketch of a Cast.

Facing page 1 1

HUNTSMAN 169

this cast is continued all round in front, and to the
right, till he again reaches the Une behind. He then
takes a wider cast either way, and is guided by
circumstances ; but nineteen times out of twenty
this last is not required, except the fox is headed
some chstance back, and the steam and stain of
the horses prevents the hounds feehng the scent,
the quick fost cast back. If there is no wind to
guide him, there may be a cover to which the fox
is gone, on the left ; but still he holds them first
the unhkely side.

Sheep are often great enemies to fox-hunting,
more particularly in the upper, or rather the grass
countries ; but if a huntsman keeps his eyes open,
this obstacle to sport can be much lessened. For
if a fox crosses a field in which sheep are, as they
are quick-sighted and timid, they invariably show
by the situation of some of them that they have
been frightened ; and some will be seen in a line
with their heads all the same way, or they will
form a line all across the field, with their heads
in an opposite direction to the part where the fox
passed, which part will be clear of sheep. But it
also sometimes happens that young sheep, after a
fox has gone by, follow his fine to the spot where
he went through the fence. It should also be

170 THE DLAJRY OF A HUXTS:\L\N

borne in mind that a fox is not likely to be headed
bv sheep, as he is in the constant habit of crossing
tlirough sheep at night, which is proved by the
tracks in snow. Consequently, a huntsman ^-ill do
welL generally, to hold his hounds on beyond the
sheep as soon as they have made their own sA^ing ;
nor deviate from this, even when there is a good
scent, for on these days the scent of the sheep
and cattle is equally stronger, — one cause for the
assertion that the scent in these countries is over-
rated.

In order to remove the obstruction (that of
sheep), in Leicestershire a plan has been proposed,
which, if adopted, may be of some avail — namely,
to raise a fund for the purpose of pa\*ing the farmers
who are willing to allow their shepherds to pen
their sheep in a comer, or part of a field, instead of
being spread all over it, from about half-past eleven
till three or four o'clock, for a certain distance
round the place of meeting. Few remedies are
^nthout objections ; and to this there may be some.
In the first place, the shepherds who are to do this
aWII probably have dogs ; at all events they ^nll be
about, where before they were not, and will be
looking out for the fox, etc. Where shepherds
have dogs it Is found to be a great nuisance : so

HUNTSAL\N 171

much so, that a celebrated sportsman m the south
has, it is said, adopted the plan of pacing the
shepherds a certain sum ever\- day the hounds meet
near, to keep their dogs fastened up, — this being a
verv open countn.', where dogs are of great use to
the shepherds.

Blank days will seldom happen if a country is
hunted regularly and without partiahty. It is
the too frequently hunting favourite covers, and
ne^lectincr to hunt the outskirts, which is one cause
of blank days. The foxes go where they are
quietest : and the consequence is they are unfairly
destroyed, on the plea that it is no use to keep
foxes if they are not hmited. And to ensure sport
a man must be ver^- judicious in making his appoint-
ments, so as not to draw the same cover too often,
although prethk- sure of finding. And it is best not
to name the fiixtures until the end of the week, for
the week following, as it is impossible to say which
covers will not be distiu-bed. And few. besides large-
holding covers. \\"ill bear draAving oftener than once
hi tliree weeks, to be a tolerably siu-e find. And
that comitry. also, generally shows the best sport
where the outskirts are fairly himted, equally vdth
the best parts of it, Avithout regard to distance,
because the foxes go straighter, and ^-ar\' the fine of

172 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

the runs. The wildest and best will go where they
can be most quiet, which is generally in the most
distant covers, and, when found, go back into the
best country.

But there are stout foxes which will not leave
the covers they are used to, beyond a few days ;
and constantly run the same line when found. Such
require extraordinary methods to beat them ; and
the following account of a run may be a useful hint..

An old fox had been found several times bv the
pack belonging to the present writer, and as invari-
ably run a ring of about three miles, taking a round
of small covers ; by which he generally moved other
foxes, and saved himself. Application was made
late in the season to try one more day for this fox,
as he was suspected of doing mischief amongst
game. He was found, as usual, and run the same
ring twice. When running it the third time, the
hounds were stopped, and quietly walked back, to
the surprise of a large field of sportsmen ; on
reaching an open part, as was expected, the hunted
fox was seen coming the same line as before,
directly towards the hounds, which got a view, and
so astonished him, that he went straight away, and
was killed twelve miles (as the crow flies) from
where he was found.

HUNTSMAN 173

When hounds have a long distance to cover,
beyond ten or twelve miles, it is advisable to send
them on overnight ; on which occasions, the next
day, they certainly show themselves to greater
advantage, as they are more Hght, lively, and fitter
to go, than when only a short time out of the
kennel, or when turned out of an omnibus.

It is a disadvantage to a pack not hunting four
days a week, because, when they hunt only three, —
there are many hounds which seldom hunt two
days together, — they do not get acquainted with
each other's tongues to have that confidence which
generally makes them fly together at once, but will
stop and listen to the stranger, till they hear hounds
they know to be true.

Cub-Hunting

It is a mistake to put off cub-hunting tiU late in
the autumn, when the intention of it is to reserve
the foxes till the season begins, particularly in
game countries. Some men are content to let a
whipper-in go round with the keeper to be shown
a htter of cubs, which being done, they liave a
present made ; but it is a great chance if the cubs
are ever seen afterwards. The hounds had better

17-t THE DLAJRY OF A HUXTS:\L\X

go once round to every doubtful litter, as early as
they possibly can for the com, — and even before it
is cut, if a whipper-hi by standing on that side can
keep them back out of the com. Few men are
half sufficiently aware of the great necessity of
moving foxes that are known of. by a day's cub-
hunting. They are not easily found by fox-takers
afterwards, or by keepers, for they beat out from
home after they have travelled a httle in conse-
quence of being disturbed, etc.

It is necessary in the hot weather in September
to go out cub-hunting as soon as it is hght, and if
it can be over by eight or nine o'clock so much the
better. By way of change the ^mter has tried it
in the aftemoon instead, lea\'ing the kennel
probably at four o'clock, and commencing about
five or six in the evening, which makes it a more
agreeable job than getting up in the middle of
the night. The cubs are by that time moving,
and soon found ; and the longer you run the
cooler it is, instead of getting broiled ^nth heat
at nine or ten in the morning. The result was,
the cubs took more time to kill than in the
morning ; probably owing to their being more fit
to run, being lighter. But the later it was, the
cooler it was also ; and, consequently, the hounds

HUNTS-ALVN 175

were never so much distressed as iii the heat of the
moniincr. which increased as the hounds got tired.
Yet however agTeeable it may be. it is not so much
hke business as m the monimg : the men have a
great deal to do afterwards, and it disarranges the
estabhshment. Still it is a more gentlemanlike
hour for a man who hunts his own homids ; and
on a quiet evening nothmg can exceed the plea-
siu-able feehng it creates. One of the greatest
objections to it is, that many men are induced to
ride out at that time with the homids. who would
not early in the morning : and nothing is more
annoying to a huntsman than haA^ing strange horses
in the rides when the young homids first enter, and
the pack are runnmg in cover. It cuts them off and
prevents their getting about A\-ith the hmitsman,
and they get ridden over, either o^viiig to their own
awkwardness or that of the horse or rider. There-
fore it is best not to make kno^^ii when thev
are gohig : at all events, unless those who do go
out. go Axitli the understanding that they are not
to expect sport, or get in the way of the hounds.
They will be apt to urge a huntsman to have a
gallop, which would be as childish ui him to do. as
for them to ask of him : for probably if he did he
would lose half his vomio- hounds, and all the

176 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

benefit to them of cub-hunting. Although the
writer is not aware that this plan has ever been
adopted by any other person, he is bold enough
to assert that it is a good one, and beyond all
doubt most agreeable.

CHAPTER II

WHIPPEE-IX

O be a whipper-in
requires both a good
eye and a good ear :
but the greatest quali-
-~ ' ' fication for one is that

he should be free from conceit, so that he will con-
sider it right to obey the huntsman most impUcitly,
whether he thinks him right or wrong, and not
hesitate, but at once and instantly do what is
required : then he does his duty, but not till then.
Even if he has reason to know that what the
huntsman is sroing to do is wroncf, in makincr a
cast, etc., and that he could put him right, he
will gain his point sooner by more quickly turning
the homids to him, with this sort of feeling m
his own mind, •'•'Try yoiu: own way as quickly
as vou can, and then trv mine " ; for what is the

178 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

use of his thinking, when the hounds are going with
the huntsman ?

It is necessary that a whipper-in should be
naturally fond of the sport, so that his heart and
soul are in it. Even men who hunt with hounds,
if they are really fond of it, cannot help occasionally
showing a wish to assist and whip in. And men
who have hunted their own hounds have often felt
a wish to become whippers-in, knowing, as they do,
that it is possible for a good whipper-in to do more
towards the sport on most days than the huntsman.
The thing is, to find a man who does not wish to
save himself ; and if he is really fond of it, he never
will. This point found out, decides whether he
keeps his place or not ; for they are apt to take it
too quietly, forgetting that the first exertion may
save their lungs, their limbs, and body, during the
whole season afterwards. Indeed, some say that a
whipper-in is not worth keeping if, after a hound
has thrown his tongue twice in cover or riot, he
does not instantly get to him, through bushes or
what not, either on or off his horse, and correct the
hound on the spot — if possible get hold of him by
the tail, and lay the whip along his side, rating him
by name at the same time. He will be so frightened
as well as hurt, that he will not readily forget it ;

WHIPPER-IN 179

and the rest of tlie pack will recollect it also, and
know the rate, and that it does not go for nothing,
and fly at aword: thus — " Ga-a-t away I Des-pe-rate !
ga-a-t away, ga-a-t away ! you-on, you-on ! cup,
cup ! " But instead of this, when the hounds are
running riot, they are often desperately exerting
themselves by standing up in their stirrups and
bawhng, " War hare, war hare ! get on there !
get away ! " which, besides being of no use, the
young hounds get so used to hear it, that they take
no notice of it ; and at a distance, say the other side
of the cover, is mistaken by men and hounds, too,
for a view-halloo. Hounds are often seen Hstening
to it, and men even often call out, "Hark! halloo!"
And when these clever fellows fancy they know
the hounds that were guilty of riot, and see them
in the open probably half an hour afterwards, they
ride at them, intending to cut them in two almost,
when they either hit or ride over some other hound ;
and even when they hit the right, the hound does
not know what it was for. But one often sees
another foolish thing done. When hounds are at a
check or cold-hunting, a whipper-in has not till then
been able to get at a hound which has been running
riot, and takes the opportunity to give him a cut ;
the consequence is, that the cry of this hound will

180 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

instantly make the hunting hounds throw up their
heads toward it, and often they do not get their
noses down again in a hurry. Indeed, some sly old
hounds will di'op their sterns, give a sniff as much
as to say, " Fool, hunt it yourself ! "

It is a good plan when any particular hound or
hounds are fond of riot — such as deer or hare — on
approaching near the spot where either of these
are likely to jump up, for one of the whips to get
off his horse slyly, and walk by the side, then when
he sees the hound prick up his ears, or show the
least inchnation to take notice of either riot, to give
him a proper good stroke with his whip, or
probably he may be off after the deer or hare, and
lead away the whole pack.

Nothing is more common, when a view-
halloo is heard, than to hear the whipper-in, when
sitting quietly on his horse, caUing out, " Hark,
halloo ! hark, halloo ! " instead of instantly getting
to the hounds, which are probably hanging on some
stale scent or up wind, and then rating sharply with,
" Hark, halloo ! get away ! get away " ! with a
smack of his whip ; and this is done in a tenth part
of the time — indeed much less generally; besides the
service he has done this way. Had he stopped
away at a distance and hallooed, he would have

WHIPPER-IN 181

prevented the hounds hearing the halloo, and would
be doing actual mischief.

But a whipper-in has often opportunities of
assisting in getting hounds to a halloo when getting
to them, ^vithout rating, which would be of no use.
It is when a halloo is heard down wind, and the
hounds cannot hear it. If the huntsman is not
there, he had better cap them on, till they are
within hearing of the halloo, then pull up, and let
them pass with a " Hark, halloo ! " But some men
"vvill ride back to the hounds, and, forgetting that
they cannot hear it, begin rating and smacking
their whips to no purpose ; except that it makes
it still more difficult for the hounds to hear the
haUoo.

If a halloo is heard at a distance by the whipper-
in, and neither the huntsman nor hounds hear it,
when at a check, he had better get half-way between
the haUoo and the hounds, and then halloo himself,
till the hounds or huntsman come ; for if he went
all the way to the halloo there would be the same
chance of his not being heard also.

If a whipper-in views a fox, on the opposite side
of the cover to the huntsman or not, he should
most distinctly halloo — either " Tally-ho back," or,
" Tally-ho away " — to let the huntsman and field

182 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

know which it is, instead of merely hallooing
" Tally-ho," which is often the case.

As soon as, or before, if possible, hounds are
thrown into a large cover, to draw it, one whipper-
in should clap on down wind as fast as he can, in
case a good fox steals away, as the first that goes is
generally the best. But if only one whip, this one
will be better employed the early part of the season
(till Christmas) in keeping near the hounds, as the
young ones will be apt to run riot, and until this
time two whips are better than one. But if they
have been active up to this time, one whipper-in
the remainder of the season is generally all that is
required. The surest way to get a run before
December is to take every method to get away
with the first fox that breaks cover. When in the
chase, and the hounds are going through a large
cover, if there are two whips out, the first should not
follow the huntsman if there is another ride equally
Hkely, or nearly so ; the other whip should go the
line the huntsman does, in case of accidents.

A whipper-in should not ride as if he was riding
for amusement or credit, but should have his eye
to the hounds without distressing his horse, which
is a great recommendation to every master of
hounds. The greatest fools generally ride the

WHIPPER-IN 183

hardest ; the proof of their being so, is that they
forget they must go on till night, but men who
hunt with hounds only can go home when they
please. A proof of a clever whipper-in is, that he
is always up at a check, without ever being seen in
front except by accident, and no one else there ;
but it is his duty to hold in, and by that means he
has always something left in his horse when others
are beaten. There are whippers-in now going who
are never seen in a quick thing, and yet are never
missed, because they are always up when wanted.
A^Hio looks for a whipper-in, except then ? He
does not hunt the fox. And if he has a good eye
and ear, with a knowledge of the country, by keep-
ing within sight, or hearing, takes advantage of
every turn of the hounds, and saves much distance
and severe ground. Nor is it fair to abuse a
whipper-in for not being mth hounds on aU
occasions, particularly when the huntsman is very
quick ; for there are some who handle their hounds,
and get about so quickly, that if the whip had only
to follow him without looking after a hound, he
would have enough to do to keep with him. In
short, with a quick huntsman, if this allowance was
not made, even a real good whip would soon lose
his character in the opinion of many who do not

184- THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

understand it, which makes it desirable to have a
second whip in countries where appearances are
much considered ; though, as before stated, a second
whip is rarely wanted after Christmas, for when the
scent is so good as to run clean away from a good
whip, who has stopped, probably, merely to turn a
hound, he is not wanted until a check, and by that
time he is up.

The great use of two whips is when hounds
divide and one lot goes away, then the first should
stop back and bring on the other lot as soon as he
can, the nearest way. The second whip should go
on, and keep within sight of the huntsman, to be
at his command to turn the hounds to him, etc.

If hounds are running a fox through, or in a
small cover near a large one, the whip should clap
back between the two covers to prevent the fox
from going into the large one, and should stop there
till the hounds have gone on ; and, if it is early in
the season, what riot there is will be the side next
the large cover, and will probably cross into it, and
he will be there to stop a young hound.

When a whipper-in is behind, bringing on hounds
in the chase, he should be careful not to halloo
them on when passing a cover, but get them on
quietly, by capping, if necessary, or he will move a

WHIPPER-IN 185

fresh fox. He will do well to stop and listen
occasionally, to ascertain which way the pack is
bearing ; and by noticing the hounds that are with
him, he will often discover it, although he himself
could not hear the cry, and by so doing he will
frequently save much distance and hard riding.

It is a good old fashion for a whipper-in to have
a stirrup leather buckled across his shoulder, in case
of accidents ; and always to have a pair of couples
to his saddle. Also, to carry a lancet, and a bottle
of sharp water, for cuts and overreaches, to be
applied as soon as seen, viz..

Eight drops of oil of thyme.

Ten drops of oil of vitriol.

One ounce of spirits of wine.

It is a good plan to have a feather stuck into the
cork of the phial, with the light end of the feather
downwards ; it is then always ready to be used,
and there is not the chance of losing the contents
when using it. The writer has made use of this
receipt for many years with the greatest success, in
overreaches particularly, which (if it is applied im-
mediately, and three or foiu- times a day) will
become dry, a crust will form over the injured part,
and it will not prevent the horse from working.
Every stable should have a bottle of it ready.

CHAPTER III

SPORTSMAN

Better to hunt the fields for health unbought.
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught.

LL men who are fox-hunters are
.^ not sportsmen ; and that some
even wish not to be thought so,
the following anecdote may
prove. In the year 182 — the
writer was staying at Melton
during the season, with only a
short stud of hunters and a hack
of his own, besides what he hired.
As may be supposed, he never thought of seeing a
second run with the hounds the same day. On
one occasion, having seen a good fox kiUed, he
merely stopped to see the second found, and then
went home. Some time during the afternoon he
met two men, well known in the hunt, who had

SPORTSMAN 187

gone the second run, and inquired of them if they
had killed their second fox ; but neither of them
knew, although they came home part of the way
with the hounds. This was mentioned to the
master of the pack next day, and the reply was :
" You may not be aware of it, but many men here
would consider it an insult to be supposed to know
anything about it. Had you asked them who had
gone best during the run, you would have had a
story as long as your arm." He then told the fact,
that the second fox was killed.

Another circumstance, amongst many others,
occurred at the close of the season, 183 — , confirm-
ing the assertion that the pleasure of many men
of the present day consists only in riding. A
party after dinner were discussing, not the merits
of one of the best runs of the season, but a point
now of greater consequence, the merits of the
horses, etc. The question was asked. Who had the
best of it ? Some man's name was given, and also
the name of the second best ; on which a man,
who had been attentively Hstening, and who had
been with the hounds on the day in question, im-
mediately exclaimed, "Then by G — d I'll sell my
horses, and give it up ; for I'll swear that I had
the best of it throughout that run ! " etc. And he

188 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

actually did send his twelve hunters to Tattersall's
shortly afterwards, and they were sold. It is fair
to add that this gentleman was oftener first than
any other man throughout the run alluded to.

According to the above, enough has been said
to prove that many men do not care about hunt-
ing ; but the present rage for steeple-chases will
give those men an opportunity of distinguishing
themselves by desperate riding ; and when they
learn that they are outdone by horse-dealers,
grooms, etc., it is probable that they may think
more of the hunting part of the day's sport. These
hints are written with the hope that already some
young ones may be coming on to whom they may
be useful.

First, it is necessary to go to the place of meet-
ing; and in doing this it is suggested that men
should avoid passing through a cover which is
Ukely to be dra^Ti that day, for a good fox is
always awake, and on hearing horses near, will
often leave his kennel and steal away. The con-
sequence is that a good day's sport is converted
into a bad one ; for on di-awing this cover, the
hounds get on the stale scent of this fox which
is gone, and hunt a walking pace for some time,
probably over a fine country, instead of going

SPORTSMAN 189

away on good terms with him ; and they may after-
wards find a bad fox when they ought to be going
home.

On arriving at the place of meeting, men had
better say all they have to say to the master of the
hounds, or to the huntsman ; for if they attempt it
after they have thrown off, they may fancy they
have not been treated with common civility.
Nothing is more annoying than for either of these,
particularly the huntsman, to feel obhged to answer
questions of any sort after throwing off; for al-
though he may appear not to have anything on his
mind, he either is, or ought to be, thinking how to
show a good day's sport. For instance, he has just
drawn a cover blank, and is waiting for a hound or
two left back, or some other cause, and appears
then to be at leisure to talk or answer questions :
not so, his mind is, or ought to be, occupied in
thinking which is the next cover likely, which the
best way to it, so as to get the wind, and at the
same time to enable him to get to the best laying
in it for his fox ; or he may be considering how such
or such a hound behaves, whether fond of riot, or
what not ; or waiting to give some order to the
whipper-in. No huntsman is free to think of any-
thing else ; and therefore, when any person asks him

190 THE DLAJIY OF A HUNTS:NL\X

a question, he must not be surprised if he does not
get a correct answer. Nothing is more often done,
or more unfair, than to ask him where he is going
to next after dra-v^dng one cover, for many circum-
stances may occur to induce him to change. After
ha^'ing told some person, for instance, just as he
arrives at the cover-side he hears that some people
are shooting, or have been that day ^\'ith all sorts
of dogs, or he may draw a hedgerow, or a small
cover in his way, which he did not think worth
speaking of ; and if the person told has told others,
and they have gone on, and afterwards find that the
hounds have shpped away with their fox, they blame
the huntsman. Therefore men had better depend
entirely on themselves, and never lose sight of the
hounds either before they have found or afterwards,
if they can keep near enough, particularly in windy
weather ; for this is the only sm-e and safe plan.
Many men go great distances to cover, and, owdng
to not attending to it frequently lose the best of
the run at first, and have to distress their horses
beyond recovery in getting up to the hounds, and
cannot enjoy what little remains of the run, and
often are not lucky enough to get up at all. And
there are days, though unfortunately not frequent,
that as soon as hounds are thrown into cover they

sports:nl\n 191

find, and get together like magic, and away without
scarcely a hound throA\ing tongue ; when, even if
a man is present, it is ten to one (if the cover is a
large one) against his getting away well with them,
unless he adopts the plan of tning never to lose
sight of them. It is true the loss of a run of this
sort ought to be a caution, for it is owing to a
burning scent that there is scarcely any cry — it
is the pace which stops the music.

If hounds are dra^^Tuo; a laroje cover, and cannot
be seen, never let them get out of hearing. To pre-
vent which, the only certain way is to keep down
^\Tiid, and the hmitsman must be heard ; this plan
should be adopted, even if it is much farther round.
It is not here meant that a man should gallop off
all round a cover dovm. wind, but get on steadily
opposite the hounds ; or by getting too forward, he
might head back a fox, and thereby be the cause of
a bad rmi instead of a good one. Had the men
stood still when down wind, or out of sio:ht, a ffood
fox might have gone away, and the first which
breaks cover is likely to be the best ; but he being
headed, owing to thoughtless riders, the homids may
change to a bad one. and run the cover for hours
until he is killed. If these men only knew how
much they were abused for not attenduig to this.

192 THE DLVRY OF A HUNTS:NL\N

and would recollect the difference of a good run
and a bad one, they would act differently.

K it happens that a man views a fox breaking
cover, he should not halloo until he is got away
some distance, nearly, or quite across, a good-sized
field ; for if he halloos too soon the fox wiU head
back mto cover. The following plan Avill save
much trouble. If the fox is gone away, to haUoo
•• Tally-ho away I " or, " Tally-ho, awawoy ! " this
being more easy to haUoo loudly. If the fox heads
back into cover, halloo "TaUy-ho back I" or "boickl"
the halloo to be distinctly given, m order that the
huntsman and the men on the other side of the
cover should know whether the fox is gone away or
headed back. But if he only halloos " Tally-ho ! "
which is too conunonly the case, the huntsman and
the rest of the field suppose that he (the fox) is gone
awav, and gallop round the cover, some one way
and some another, to the halloo. When they get
there, they find the fox is gone back : the conse-
quence of which is, not only, that they have ridden
their horses for nothing, but that, in coming romid,
thev have probably headed the fox again ; when
had they stood stiU on hearing that the haUoo
was back, the fox would have gone away at some
other point Some foxes that would fly at first get

SPORTSMAN 196

shv and frightened by hallooing, and though stout
and equal to any, never leave the cover alive ; and
if a crentleman has headed him back, he has the
blessing of the whole field.

Or, if a man sees a fox cross a ride in cover, if he
halloos at alL which he ought to do if the hounds
are at check, it should be, " Tally-ho, yoi over ! "
wliich is sufficient to let the huntsman know that
the fox has crossed the ride. And when a man has
%'iewed a fox and has given a view-halloo, he had
better remain perfectly quiet, and not try to get
another ^iew elsewhere : all he gets for his pains is
that he is accused of tr\-ing to prevent a fox break-
ing cover ; and certain it is, that though he may
not trv to do it, he by this does aU he can to prevent
it, and gets blamed accordingly for having probably
spoiled a good days sport.

A mans love of hunting, independent of riding,

has been estimated, though unfairly, at times by

simplv remarking his having no thong to his

whip. Although it may be unjust to say that such

men are not sportsmen, yet, as it happens to every

man some time during a season to see a fox

break cover and head back, while he is the only

person tliere or near at the time, if he should

not have a thong to his whip he has no means

o

194 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

of stopping the pack, which come out of cover,
and flash half, or probably all the way, across the
field, when, had he had a whip to smack, he could
have turned them back at once, and have prevented
the fox from gaining probably half an hour's ad-
vantage, by shpping away on the other side of the
cover. When men see that their own sport may
be injured by this fashion, it does appear most
strange that it should have been adopted, much
more continued, unless it really is to show their
indifference to the sport ; bringing with it, as it does,
the chance of running over many a hound which
may happen to be in the way of their horses ; and,
after having ridden over it, they will call out, " Ware
horse!" when, in fact, it ought to have been, "Ware
hound!" and the hound is ruined, because the gentle-
man did not choose to ride with a hunting-whip.

It sometimes happens that a hound in the chase
crosses a horse in his gallop, or slips through a fence,
and under a horse when taking a jump, and the
hound is killed. This certainly may be called an
accident. The owner and huntsman, of course, are
much annoyed and irate at the moment ; but they
cannot blame a man for it as in the other case, when
a smack of a whip would have saved it, but well
knowing, as they must do, that it was done in the

SPORTSMAN 195

ardour of the chase ; and many masters would
rather witness such accidents occasionally than see
men hunting without that ardent feehng for sport.
Deprive fox-hunting of that intoxicating sensation,
and it becomes wretchedly spiritless, and men may
as well hunt a tame rabbit round a di'awing-room,
mth the di*ead of being called to order for fear of
breaking the crockery. No ! Fox-hunting is no
longer what it should be, when men ride in dread of
being overhauled or abused by a master or a hunts-
man, who cannot himself ride at the head ; for when
he is there (in his place) and can look the men in
the face, he is sure to be obeyed at a word ; and it
is difficult, or impossible, to instil into men who do
not understand hunting, or scarcely even when
hounds are at a check, the exact distance they
ought to keep from hounds.

It often happens that young men are observed
to take every opportunity of giving their horses a
gallop before the hounds have found their fox ; and
indeed it often happens that their horses are more
than half beaten before that time, although others
at the same time are perfectly fresh after the hounds
have been drawing several hours. Not long since,
a young man from one of the universities amused
a party who overheard him asking the whipper-in

196 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

to follow him over a gate merely for amusement,
whilst the homids were drawing in a contrary
direction ; but he had that pleasure to himself.
The hounds shortly afterwards found and had a
good run. This gentleman went well for five or ten
minutes, but was not seen or heard of afterwards
that day ; his horse was beaten before the fox was
found.

There is an old sapng, that " It is a bad wind
that blows no good " ; and, however much it is to be
regretted that men do not enter into the real sport
of fox-hunting as formerly, there is this advantage,
that men are not constantly speaking to hounds, or
cheering them by name, — a thing scarcely ever done
in the present day, though it is reported to have
been a common occurrence in the last century, —
and the extraordinary quickness with wliich hounds
get together may be attributed to this cause. It
is not meant here that huntsmen never ^\dsh to see
gentlemen lend assistance, for the huntsman to
even the best appointed packs are at times glad
of any one who ^WU turn a hound, and by so
doing get his warmest thanks ; for it has probably
been the means of finishing a good run well, when
even one minute lost would have made aU the
difference in the scent. But that assistance is out

SPORTSMAN 197

of the power of forward riders who have no thong
to their whip, and although one smack of it would
be invaluable, they cannot make use of it.

It is not the intention of the ^\Titer to dwell
much on the subject of riding to hounds ; but the
rage for it has become so gTeat, that many men do
not look before they leap, therefore the folloAving
fact may be useful. About the year 1835, a gentle-
man was ridhig well with the Hambledon hounds
in Hampshire, and when they were going best pace,
he naturally put his horse at the lowest place hi the
fence, and the next moment found himself on his
back, and his horse out of sight ; when, on rismg
from the ground, he was not a Uttle startled at see-
ing a well, or rather a draw-hole the size of a well,
into which his horse had gone headlong, and was
dashed to pieces ; as was the case ^y\\h the saddle.
The fall was of considerable depth ; it was a place
from which chalk had been excavated to manure
the land. The Amter once hunted that country,
and recollects three hounds being lost for three
days, and were found in a well of this description ;
but they were all got out ahve and saved. This,
and the fact of his ha\dng seen men when riding
jealously go headlong into a pond on the other
side of the fence, and on one occasion into a chalk-

198 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

pit, he thinks may even make a steeple-chaser look
before he leaps ; for he should recollect that no
one has marked out his Hue with hounds as in a
steeplechase.

One of the first things for a man to acquire in
riding to hounds is, an eye to hounds ; that is, in
chase always to keep his eye on the leading hound,
which he will easily distinguish from the pack by
observing that the moment the leading hound (or
hounds, but generally only one) catches the scent,
he drops his stern as straight as a tobacco-pipe,
and the stern of the other hound which had it the
moment before will rise. It often happens that
several get it when the scent is pretty good ; and if
so, it will be easier to see it. By observing this, he
turns his horse's head as he sees the hounds turn,
and gains a great advantage over those men who
only look at the body of the pack, and who go
beyond where it is necessary for their horse to go.
A man with a good eye to hounds will beat others
who have not, although much better mounted than
himself, and at times save his horse much distance
and deep ground.

If men would pay attention to the cry of hounds
when running in cover, instead of riding in to the
end of the ride, without listening, merely because

SP0RTS:\1AN 199

when they started the hounds were going in that
direction, thev Avould often save their horses much
work ; for, on hstening, they would find that the
hounds had turned in another direction. One fool,
it is said, makes many ; and it is no uncommon
thing to see one man start off, and a whole string
of horses follow without knowing why, and have to
return after going all through the wood. A very
httle trouble and patience will teach any man which
way hounds are turning in cover ; and he wdll find
it a great sa^-ing and advantage to his horse and
himself too. It is true, that old sportsmen beat
men of the present day ; they were properly entered
to fox-hunting, and were taught to depend on their
own eyes and ears. For instance, a fox after a run
gets to a large cover, where there is an earth stopped
at the farther end, or the country is too open to
make it probable that the fox vnW. face it, he (the
old sportsman), when he reaches the cover, quietly
pulls up, and keeps his ear to the hounds, going on
steadily ; by which his horse gets his wind, the fox
does head, finding the earth stopped, etc., and the
hounds bring him round back to the old sportsman.
But during this whole time the hard riders have
been going best pace much farther than the hounds,
which by this time have left the cover, and return-

200 THE DIARY OF A HUNTS:MAN

ing the way they came with only the old one ^Wth
them ; and this because he was the only man who
kept his ear to them.

Nothing shows ignorance in the field so much as
not getting out of the way when the huntsman is
coming past with the hounds, particularly at a
check in a road. jVIen appear to forget that they
cannot hunt without the pack. If it is in a road
or in cover, it is most necessary, or the hounds must
break out of the road into the cover, and possibly
cross the line of another fox, and bring back the
rest of the pack, which the huntsman is getting on.

Most men are aware that a skirting hound is
considered a great enemy to sport, but a decided
skirting rider does almost as much mischief. It is
true he may say he goes out to please himself, and
to ride as he likes best, but he must not forget that
he has no excuse for spoiling the sport of others,
and, although he is not abused to his face, he is
behind his back. A story is told of a good old
sportsman who was often annoyed by some men
for not acting as he thought right in the field, and
the only method he had of correcting them was by
taking an opportunity, when the wliipper-in was also
committing the same fault, of heartily cursing him
in their presence, finishing with " I may d — n youT

SPORTSMAN 201

ISIen who are not acquainted with the grass
countries, in particular where the fences consist of
live quicks and thorns, will do well to notice when
a hedge is cut which way it is laid down to the top,
and put his horse at it obliquely, ^^dth his head
froifi the root of the thorn, and the top of the
thorn being weak will give way to the horse's legs ;
but if he goes straight against it, he stands a good
chance of a fall, — and if he goes obhquely, on the
contrary plan, he reduces his fall to a certainty
should the horse not clear any strong plasher which
rises when the horse's knees are under it, — but not
so the other way.

Young sportsmen are apt to think it right to
be first if they can throughout a run ; but they
will do well to take it quietly at the beginning,
and by that means they may be fii'st at the end
of the run, which othermse they would never have
seen — particularly if it is a good one, and if so, it
will be a feather in his cap. A real good run
seldom occurs, and when it does, it is seldom
duly appreciated ; for to get one requires so many
circumstances combined — first, a good fox, then a
good find and a good scent, then a good country,
good luck, etc. The chances against it are
innumerable — a bad scent, bad fox, bad find.

202 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

not getting well away with him, and a hundred
accidental circumstances to bring them to a check,
without being overridden. The fox is headed by
an old woman, or even a child of four years old may
spoil a run ; a dog, pig, sheep, cattle, cross-roads,
false halloos, changing foxes — in short, no end to
chances. But when there is not a good scent, more
mischief is done by overrichng than by all the
other obstacles together ; and it is much to be
regretted that all men will not learn when hounds
throw up, that is, when they throw up their noses
at a check, which a man must either be bhnd not
to see, or is afraid some other man will ride by
liim. And there are men who will pass the first
man when he pulls up at a check, and they are
the men who do the mischief — on whom the hunts-
man or master of the hounds should keep an eye.
The first man forces on amongst the hounds at
a check, and drives them beyond it ; when up
come lots of horses, smoking like steam-engines,
on the very spot where the hounds first threw up,
and where the fox headed or turned short to the
right or left probably ; then, instead of appearing
to be aware that they have caused the check, hke
at the building of the tower of Babel, there begins
a confusion of tongues, instead of each being

SPORTSMAN 203

anxiously quiet, with the hope of not attracting the
hounds by a word even, of so much consequence is
it just then ; forgetting that by prolonging the
check — which talking is hkely to do — they throw
away the advantages they have gained by being in
the first flight, and give the rest of the field time to
get up.

Those men get on best with hounds in a sharp
run who always follow them through covers, even
if there is no ride, if possible. Unless a man has
been used to a woodland country, and has allowed
his horse to have his head, and to pick his own
way through a new-cut wood, stubs, etc., he had
better keep the track ; but if a man has nerve
enough to allow his horse to have his nose down
to his knees, and never to guide him through stubs,
the horse will not lame himself. The fact is, the
horse will be looking at one stub, and the man
at another ; so that when the horse is guided from
where he was looking and intended to step, it is
an even chance but that he knocks his legs to
pieces.

Some years since a master of hounds, who hunted
them himself, paid the writer a A^sit at the end
of the season, and brought four hunters. He came
determined to see everything that happened during

204 THE DIARY OF A HUNTS^LIN

each day's sport, and followed the ^mter every-
where through cover, etc., who soon observed to
him that he woidd knock Ms horse's legs to pieces
if he did not keep the road through a newly-cut
wood, because he did not allow his horse to have
his head, but was constantly pulling him one way
or the other, consequently the horse was blunder-
ing against the stubs all the time. It is needless
to add the fact that, at the end of the first week,
not one horse of the four could go out of the
stable, OA\'ing to their legs being so bruised and
swollen, although others which went over the same
ground had legs as clean as a foal's.

A man who hunts ^\'itli another man's hounds
should open his eyes and ears, but shut his mouth,
or he will be likely to have this question put to
him, if nothing worse, "Pray, sir, who made you
huntsman ? "

It may be useful for young sportsmen to know
that when a fox goes up ^\'ind at first, he "^^ill
often go a mile or two, and then head back do-vMi
■v\dnd ; therefore, if he is not first, his horse "v\dll
be the better for his not ha-sing pressed him ; and
if the fox keeps on up ^^ind, he is not Ukely to be
thrown out, as he ^\'ill be sure to hear them, and
be able to get to them afterwards.

SPORTS^LIN 205

Xothing is more common, though most absurd,
than for men who reside in a particular quarter
in a hunting country' to confine themselves to the
meets of the hounds in that quarter, although they
meet often quite as near, or nearer, and in a better
country, probably the other side of some road,
which is this person's boundary. It is true they
know that comitr}' better ; but surely to men who
can ride, the A\'ilder and stranger a country' is the
more it is hke fox-hunting. It ib the doubtful
feeUng; when a fox is found, not kno'vvLno: where
you wWl be the next ten minutes, that makes fox-
hunting so different from aU other sports. ^len
who really like sport had better go ten miles to
meet hounds in a good country, than tvvo in a
bad one.

AMien men have favoiuite horses they do not
hke to rmi any risk by sending them on over-
night from fifteen to twenty miles, but prefer
sendino; them on earlv in the mornino- ; wliich is
certauily an odd way of showing their regard, for
on no occasion can it happen but that a good imi
is to be fomid near the place of meetmg, and
surely there can be no hesitation whether to
choose a horse which has been traAcUing three or
four hours, or one fresh out of the stable, even if

206 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

the groom did start very early in the morning, —
say four o'clock, — and in the hunting season there is
much doubt whether he would start so soon by tAvo
hours probably, so that the horse has often no time
to get fresh. All that can be said is, that this
practice is penny wise and pound foohsh.

So in respect to riding a hunter home, probably
twenty or twenty -five miles or more, after a hard
day's work with hounds. Let the day be ever so
severe, some men insist on it their horse will not
rest so well in any stable as his own, which is
against all reason. If there is good accommodation,
he does an unwise thing who risks the chance of
taking his horse home in preference. The best thing-
he can do, if the horse is distressed, is to have about
two or three quarts of blood taken from him, see
that he has some gruel and is properly taken care
of, then go home if necessary, and send for him
next day, or let the groom return by the same con-
veyance.

A ffood substitute for oatmeal is wheat flour, a
pint or two of which, mixed with half a pail of warm
water, can be had for sixpence at any cottage ; and
it would be no bad plan always to give it to your
horse after a run, on his way home.

INIany men breed their own horses, and ought

SPORTSMAN 207

always to have the most perfect hunters, even
before the horses have ever seen a hound, or have
had a saddle on their backs, by adopting the
following plan. As soon as the colt is weaned,
when turned out, he has of course always a shed
or stable to lie in, where he is also fed. A few
yards in front of the door of the stable begin by
making a shght fence, about the height of the colt's
knees, which he will walk over to get to his corn.
When he is quite used to this, raise the fence six
inches, or more, sufficient to make him rear up, and
get his forelegs over, and he will soon find it easier
to jump over than draw over his hind-legs. When
he does this freely, raise it still higher, till he is
obliged to make a good standing leap over it every
time he goes into the shed to be fed, etc. This last
should be a single rail. When he is perfect at this,
which he will be in the course of a month, then dig
a ditch and throw up a bank with the earth, instead
of the rail, or by the side of it, — which rail should
be made higher to prevent his preferring it to the
ditch, — and he will first walk into the ditch, then
get his forelegs on the bank, and the hinder-legs
on the other side of the ditch ; but, in the course
of a day or two, he will quietly jump on the bank.
After being perfect in this, have another ditch on

208 THE DLVRY OF A HUNTSMAN

the other side of the bank, and he utII jump on and
off in a few days as well as any hunter. The writer
has a thoroughbred colt at this time, only nine
months old, which is as perfect at all sorts of fences
as the best hmiter.

The writer hopes, in selecting these extracts from
a collection of his oami practical obsers'ations, not
to be thought too seyere on any description of men
who hunt ^Wth fox-hounds ; for it is fair to suppose
that those who haye not resided in the country
cannot be so much aware at times of the mischief
they are doing in riding as those who are constantly
resident there, and who haye more opportunities of
getting acquainted ^\'ith the state of crops, etc. If
these men would only consider tliis, they would
not be surprised at seeing a farmer extremely irate
^\ath them for riding on a field of tares, for instance
(which they had mistaken for weeds), young seeds,
— that is, cloyer, etc., or turnips, — Avhen there is
a footpath Avithin two yards, and this merely for
the sake of keeping up a conyersation by riding by
the side of another man, who is riding on a path or
furrow under a hedge, instead of behind him. ]Men
being thus unconscious that they are doing mischief,
makes it no matter of surprise that they flare
up, or are much proyoked at the coarse or rough

SPORTS:\L\N 209

language addressed to them by the o^mer of the
land — a cu*cumstance often \Wtnessed by the MTiter,
who has invariably proved the old proverb to be true,
that " A soft word turneth away ^^Tath " ; and mdeed
has gone so far, at times, by way of giAing a tm-n to
the subject, as to beg those gentlemen who were
threatening to horsewhip the man for his abuse,
either to horsewhip liim instead of the farmer, or to
be patient and hear what was to be said. By this
time both parties got cool, and he then commenced
by stating that it was entirely through ignorance that
they were domg miscliief ; and had the farmer only
spoken ci^illy, these gentlemen would have mstantly
refrained from it, as he wished : at the same time
adding, *' Surely, farmer, if you are a thoroughbred
Englishman, you cannot object to assist in gi^ing
these gentlemen a little amusement, who have
probably been fighting the battles of your country'
for you ! " And that he should recollect fox-hmitmg
is not a new jumped-up sport, like steeple-chasing,
but the old-estabUshed sport of the comitry, one
cause why EngUsh officers are superior to those
of almost every foreign comitry ; that it is fox-
hunting which makes them hardy, by taking them
out in all weathers, and instils into them a sph-it of
enterprise, even beyond what they themselves had

210 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

any conception of ; and if the farmer is a true Briton
he would be sorry to see them second (if they were
miHtary or naval men) ; if not officers, then, by
opposition, you do all you can to prevent gentlemen
from living in this country, and you would by so
doing have all the large houses vacant ; the con-
sequence of which would be, you would only get
half-price for your poultry and eggs and butter,
independent of its keeping up the price of hay and
oats. For instance, by your selUng a load of hay to
a gentleman for probably a greater price than the
postmasters would give you, this is made a handle
of at market ; thus, on an offer being made, you say,
" No, I wont sell for less than such a man sold for " ;
and so with the price of oats (which every fox-hunter
should purchase of the farmers who hve in the hunt,
if they really do wish well to sport. It gives them
an interest in the success of the pack, and they feel
themselves flattered by being noticed, to which they
certainly have a claim).

Any farmers hostile to fox-hunting should take
the trouble of considering the benefit a pack of fox-
hounds is to a country, and calculate the consump-
tion alone of corn and hay which is caused by it.
Supposing, for instance, two hundi-ed horses, — and in
few countries, if any, less than that are kept, includ-

SPORTSMAN 211

ing hacks and carriage-horses, which other^vise would
not be kept there, — they would see that, on a fair
calculation, the consumption Avould be, for eight
months only in the year, two thousand four hundred
quarters of oats, at two bushels per horse per week;
and if each horse have one hundredweight of hay per
week for eight months, two hundred horses would
consume three hundred and ninety tons of hay, etc.
It is indeed wonderful the effect of proper
civihty ; but probably a greater proof cannot be
given than this account of the following circumstance
— a fact which actually took place in a country
hunted by the writer. It happened, a year or two
before he hunted the country, that a notorious
character, celebrated by having ridden down the
Devil's Dyke at Brighton, when riding across a
field of wheat in a deep country, was accosted by
the o^vner of the land in very rough terms.
Owing to this gentleman's wearing a cap, he was
mistaken for one of the whippers-in, and thus
addressed : " You are a pretty sort of fellow to
ride across a man's wheat in this shameful way ;
when the hounds be running 'tis bad enough, but
to do it now is too bad ; and when all the srentle-
men be in the road, and you servants to behave in
this Avay, I'll soon make you be out on't " ; and

212 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

actually struck the noble captain with a hedge-
stake. On which he, without loss of time, made
such use of his double thong, that the farmer ran
away, the captain riding after him till he came to
the gateway, under which there was a large di'ain,
and into the drain the farmer got ; on which the
captain jumped off, hallooed, " Whoop ! " and swore
he had run his fox to ground ; at the same time,
told some person to bring the hounds to worry his
fox. This so alarmed the man that he cried out
for mercy ; on which it was granted, and the
captain left him, with the promise that he would
behave better for the future. It happened, about
three years afterwards, that the writer was taking
his hounds across the ground belonging to this same
farmer, whom he met at a gate, and was told by
him that he should not ride that way across a field
of newly-planted beans, which were just come up.
This the ^\Titer saw, and told him that even had he
not been there to warn him, he certainly should
have taken the hounds, and the whole field of sports-
men round outside the field, although a considerable
distance out of their way (which most assuredly he
would have done at all events). Having convinced
the farmer of it, he was allowed to pass, and shortly
after all the others ; who, by a little management

SPORTSMAN 213

by waiting, were drawn all round the field. A fox
was shortly found in the cover adjoining, and after a
good run was killed, when the whipper-in came up
and delivered the following message from the
farmer : " Sir, the farmer came up to me, just
before the hounds went away with the fox, and
said, 'Young man, give my respects to your
master, and say, that although I am no fox-hunter
— never was, nor never shall be — yet, after his be-
haviour to me to-day, I hope he will come here as
often as he hkes, and it shall not be my fault if he
don't always find a fox ; for I never was treated so
civilly before,' " etc. The event proved his sincer-
ity, for his cover was afterwards a sure find ; and
that very farmer oftener hallooed the fox away than
any other man, — another proof that more flies are
caught by sugar than by vinegar.

It is the duty of every man who rides hunting
to take every opportunity of doing a service to the
cause when he has it in his power, and that
happens on many occasions which are frequently
overlooked. When accidents happen to men or
horses, or when a horse gets loose, men should not
be slow in repaying those who assist, who, however,
often get little more than a harsh word or two for
being slow. A sixpence or shiUing often would

214 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

make the man a friend to fox-hunting, who other-
wise goes home disappointed. Sometimes a man
runs hard to open a gate, or to give some informa-
tion, etc., for which he gets nothing — scarcely even
thanks. The huntsman gets the information, but lie
has not time to throw him a trifle ; and if any other
person does so, the man is thankful for it, and thinks
it quite correct to go to the pubhc-house and drink
success to fox-hunting, most probably in the presence
of some fox-taker, who shnks away. At all events,
the more friends foxes have the better ; and often
a civil word will gain one.

Many men who hunt are equally fond of
shooting, and have friends who preserve their
game, many of whom are not aware of the ad-
vantage it is to them to have a pack of fox-h'ounds
in their covers — particularly early in the season —
in cub-hunting in September and October, when
they do an immense deal of good towards the
preservation of pheasants and hares. By working
the covers, they open the runs and tracks used by
pheasants so wide that a single snare or wire, or
even several, will not catch them ; but before the
tracks were open, every pheasant that came was
sure to be caught, and equally so with the hares.
The plan of catching pheasants with a single wire

SPORTSMAN 215

has not been adopted by poachers until within the
last ten or twelve years, if so long ; but nothing is
so fatal, if set next to the oat-stubbles or fields
where they feed. The writer has had ten or twelve
hounds caught at a time by the foot, when cub-
hunting at four or five o'clock in the morning,
before the pheasants came out to feed ; and he has
taken several pheasants alive out of these wires,
and released them. And there is no plan that can
be adopted half so beneficial as to have a pack of
fox-hounds to open and widen the runs in and
about the covers. These wires are set as soon as it
is light, and the pheasants shortly after are caught
in them. The whole affair is done in a couple
of hours ; and it is impossible for the keeper to be
everywhere during that time. Indeed, poachers
have often been heard to say that a pack of fox-
hounds is the greatest enemy they have.

Men who have keepers and who wish well to
fox-hunting, by ordering them to set their traps for
vermin in a particular way will catch all the vermin,
without touching a fox ; but the excuse is that
traps, which are baited with rabbits, etc., as
they say for small vermin, often catch foxes, —
indeed more foxes than anything else. Instead
therefore of baiting the trap in the usual way by

216 THE DLVRY OF A HUNTS:\L\N

placing the bait on the ground under the trap
which is covered over, the proper plan, and most
successful for catching small vermin, is to set the
trap in a low place as before ; then fasten the bait
on a forked stick, about two feet long, and the
other end should be stuck in the ground, lea\dng
the bait on it about twelve inches high over the
trap, when every weasel or pole-cat, etc., "will come
to it, and in reaching to get the bait, are certain to
be caught ; but if a fox comes he takes the bait
^\'ithout stepping on the trap, as he winds the trap
and reaches over it.

Though last, not least, one hint to the fair sex,
who are always ready to do a kind act to fox-
hunters when they have it in their power, and
many would give substantial proofs of it, if they
had opportunities Hke the following. It happened
in a country' once hunted by the "vvTiter that a
respectable farmer's vnfe had lost a great number of
poultry, including some dozens of full-growTi
turkeys. Not far distant lived a ^vddow lady, who
heard of this loss as well as the cause of it, and, as
no one could think of offering to pay the damage
done to so respectable a person, a short time after
the loss this lady sent a hamper of wine. It is quite
unnecessary to say it, but it is a fact that no cover

SPORTS:\L\N 217

in that coimtn' was ever dl*a^m Avithout a fox, and
that the lady's health was drunk at every hunt
dinner with double honours afterwards, for it had
been a standing toast previously.

N.B. — A packet of tea or tobacco, would be
equally efficacious probably ; not to mention a keg
of brandy or hollands, which would come more
properly from gentlemen who are friends to the
noble sport, but have no other way of sho^^ing it.

JNIen who hunt are generally perfectly un-
acquainted Avith hmiting terms, even the most
common, and it has often been an obstacle in
conversation when relating a day's sport ; for even
if a man has been told the meaning of any term,
unless he hunts often it is not likely that he A\dU
remember it i^dthout haAdng something to refer to,
to proAdde which has been the object sought m
compiling the following glossary.

CHAPTER IV

HUNTSMAN S LANGUAGE EXPLAINED

Mode of Pronunciation

OVER hoick— On throw-
ing off; for Hark into
cover.
Eloo-in — Into cover.
Yoi-over—OYer the fence

into cover.
Edawick, Edawick,
Edawick — To make
hounds di'aw when in
cover, pronounced
thus for in-hoick, in-
hoick, in hoick.
Yoi wind him — Ditto.
Yoi rouse him, my hoys — Ditto.
Hoick Rector — A cheer to Rector, or the name of
any hound which first challenged, for Hark to
Rector.

HUNTSMAN^S LANGUAGE EXPLAINED 219

Have at him old fellow — Ditto.

Hoick together. Hoick — When several hounds

are heard, and are getting together.
Taa-leo — When a fox is viewed, for Tally-ho, as it

can be more easily hallooed, and much louder.
Taa-leo aivawoy — When a fox is seen to leave the

cover, for Tally-ho away.
Gone awawoy — When a fox is gone away.
Hooi — If a person has seen a fox go away, first

Taa-leo, then this halloo is used ; if hounds

are at a distance, it is understood that the fox

has been seen.
Elope, or Elope forward awawoy — When some

hounds are gone away, to call the rest.
Yo hole, yo hole there — When hounds are at check

to make them hunt.
Forward, or Forrid- hoick — When some hounds

have hit off the scent.
Yogueote — When hounds have gone beyond the

scent, or when he wants them to come back

to him ; for " you go o'er it."
Yoi there, yo hote — When at check, and to make

them put their noses down.
Hoick halloo — When a halloo is heard.
Yonder he goes — When in view.
Eloo at hi7?i — When the hounds are near the fox.

220 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

Eloo, eleew — When they are very close to him.
Tally-ho hack — When the fox comes out, and heads

back again, in preference to Taa-leo, when used

quickly.
Eloo hack — When hounds come out, to turn them

back, add also. Hark hack, and a smack of the

whip.
Whoop — The death halloo.

CHAPTER V

HUNTING TERMS

WAY— When a fox
has left a cover and
^if- gone away, or the
hounds are gone
away.
Back — AVhen a fox heads back, Tally-ho back ; if

the hounds come out, the term is, Hark back.
Billet — The excrement of the fox, which is known
from all other by the fur of rabbits, which is
nearly always to be seen in it.
Burst — The first part of a run out of cover, if

quick, is called a sharp burst.
Burst Him — A term used when a fox is killed

owing to a sharp burst.
Burning Scent — When the hounds run ahnost
mute owing to the goodness of the scent.

222 THE DLVRY OF A HUNTSMAN

Breast High — Also a burning scent, when hounds
do not stoop their heads, and go a racing
pace.

Capping — When a fox is killed, it is the custom in
some countries to cap for the huntsman ; some
man takes round a cap or glove, and men are
expected to drop a half-crown into it. It also
means, when a man takes off his hat or cap
and waves it to bring on the hounds.

Carries — The ground after a frost adheres to the
fox's feet ; then the ground carries.

Carry a good Head — When hounds run well
together oA^dng to the scent being good, and
spreading so that it extends A\^de enough for
the whole pack to feel it ; but it most fre-
quently happens that the scent is good only
on the hne for one hound to get it, so that
the rest not getting have nothing to lead them
on, and do not get to head so as to be all
abreast.

Challenge — When drawing for a fox, the first
hound which throws his tongue is a challenge.

Changed — A^^len hounds have left their hunted
fox and changed to another.

Check — When hounds in chase stop for want of
scent, or have overrun it.

HUNTING TERMS 223

Chop a Fox — When a fox is killed as soon as

found he is said to be chopped.
Crash — When hounds are running in cover, and it

appears that every one is throwing his tongue,

it is called a good crash.
Cub — A young fox, till regular hunting begins in

November.
Cold-hunting — When hounds can scarcely feel a

scent, and pick it out with difficulty.
Cover — Any wood, furze, gorse, rushes, heath,

or sedge, which will hold a fox.
Going to Cover — Is going to the place of

meeting.

Currant Jelly — A term used when hounds are

running hare.
Cheering — When hounds are encouraged by a

halloo.
Do\vN Wind — When hounds are running with the

wind behind them.
Drawing — When hounds are thrown into cover

to find a fox they are drawing it.
Drag — The scent left by footsteps of the fox on

his way to his kennel that morning.
Drain — Undergi-ound, where foxes often run to.
Dwelling — When hounds do not get on to the

huntsman's halloo; probably feeUng a stale

224 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

scent sometimes, till moved by the whipper-
in ; also, a slow huntsman is apt to dwell.

Drafted — When hounds are put by, not to be
kept, they are drafted.

Earths are drawn — When a vixen fox has
drawn out fresh earth, it is a proof she intends
to lay up her cubs there.

Eye to Hounds — A person is said to have a good
eye to hounds, whose eye in the chase is
always fixed on the leading hound or hounds ;
by which he has a great advantage over others,
as he turns his horse's head immediately which-
ever way the leading hound does, which saves
an angle.

Elope — A halloo, to get hounds away, and also
notice for men to come away.

Flighty — A hound which is not a steady hunter
is called flighty ; also when the scent changes
from good to bad repeatedly, it is called
flighty.

Forward — A halloo implies, to get on ; or that
the hounds are running ahead of you.

Feeling a Scent — A term used when any hound
smeUs the scent ; when bad, it is said they can
scarcely feel the scent.

Foil — When a fox runs the gi'ound over which he

HUNTING TERMS 225

has been before, it is called running his foil, —

sometimes a reason for hounds not being able

to hunt it where they have been before.
Furze, ok Gorse — A good cover for a fox ; in

some counties called gorse — in the north,

whins.
Full Cry — AAHien the whole pack are running

hard and throwing their tongues.
Gone to Ground — When a fox has got into an

earth or drain.
Hark ! Halloo ! — When a person hears a halloo

at a distance, and the huntsman does not, he

should halloo, " Hark ! halloo ! " and point

with his whip if in sight of him.
Handles a Pack — A term used, speaking of a

huntsman who handles a pack well or ill.
At Head — Such hounds as are going first are at

head ; also such men as are first are at head.
Headed — When a fox is going away, but is

headed ; that is, turned back the way he

came.
Hold them on — For huntsmen to take the hounds

forward, and try for the scent.
Heel — The hounds are said to be running heel

when they get on the scent of the fox, and

run it back the way the fox came.
Q

226 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

Hit — When hounds are at check, and recover the
scent it is hitting it off. Or, the first hound
that feels the scent is said to have made a
good hit.

Hold Hard — A huntsman's rate. Eager and
jealous riders when they will not pull up,
although pressing the hounds too closely —
generally for fear that another will pass them
— and so drive the hounds beyond the scent,
often ruin a day's sport. JNIen who will not
look at hounds may as well content them-
selves with riding steeple-chases.

Hooi — The view-halloo, if Tally-ho is not heard ; or
when hounds are at a check, and it is desirable
to get them on.

Holding Scent — When the scent is just good
enough for hounds to hunt a fox a fair pace,
but not enough to press him, though it ought
to kill him.

Kennel — Where a fox hes all day in cover, to
which he goes every morning before it is quite
daylight, and remains in it till dark.

Line Hunters are good hounds which will not
go a yard beyond the scent, and keep the pack
right — invaluable hounds ; by some called
plough-holders, because they hold the line.

HUNTING TERMS 227

Left-handed — Such hounds are called left-handed
which are not always right, but apt to be wide,
and fly without a scent. The sooner they are
drafted the better, although they frequently
have some excellent quaUties.

LiTTEii, A — Young foxes, or the cubs belonging to
one fox, are called a litter.

Lifting — AVhen hounds are scarcely able to hunt
a scent across bad scenting-ground, the hunts-
man is induced to take them off it, and hold
them forward ; where he is sure to hit off" the
scent — probably to a halloo. This is con-
demned by many good sportsmen, but by
others it is thought slow in a huntsman not
to do it.

Lying — That part of a cover in which foxes are
generally found — probably coppice wood of
about two years' gTowth, or furze, etc.

Laid Up — When a vixen fox has had cubs, she is
said to have laid up.

INIain Earths — Large earths on which foxes gener-
ally breed, being difficult to get out.

Metal — When hounds are very fresh, and fly for
a short distance on a wrong scent, or without
one, it is called " all metal. "

Moving-Scent — When hounds get on a scent that

228 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

is fresher than a drag, it is called a moving-
scent ; that is, the scent of a fox which has
been disturbed by travelling.

Mobbing a Fox — Is when a fox is taken unfair
advantage of, surrounded, and killed, although
he had strength left to show sport if he had
been allowed to go away.

Mute — Hounds run mute when the scent is so
good that the pace they go prevents their
throwing tongue ; but if a hound always runs
mute, it is an unpardonable fault, even if in
every other respect he is the best hound in the
pack. The better he is, the more harm he does.

Noisy — When a hound throws his tongue without
a scent, he should be drafted.

Open — When a hound throws his tongue he is said
to open on the scent.

Open Bitches — Bitches to breed from, which are
not spayed, are so called.

Open — Earths which are not stopped are said to
be open.

Owning a Scent — When hounds throw their
tongues on the scent.

Over It — When hounds have gone beyond the
scent in chase, it is said they are over it.

Pad — The foot of a fox.

HUNTING TERMS 229

Padding a Fox — Is finding the print of a fox's

foot.
Point to Point — The distance of a run on a map

by a straiglit hne.
Rack — For a track through a fence.^
Rabbit Earth, or Spout — A^Hiere a fox sometimes

gets into wlien pressed ; meant to imply that

it is not a regular fox-earth.
Riot — When hounds hunt anything besides fox ;

the rate is " Ware riot."
Skirter — A hound which is generally wide of the

pack. Also applied to men who are always wide

of the hounds.
Stroke of a Fox — Is when hounds are drawing.

It is evident from their manner that they feel

the scent of a fox, although they do not OAvn it.
Sinking — A fox is said to be sinking when he is

nearly beaten.
Sinking the Wind — When men go down wind to

hear the cry, it is called sinking the wind of

the hounds.
Spayed — Bitch hounds which are not thought good

enough to breed from are spayed, probably

owing to their being lathy and thin ; if so,

it improves them.

^ The more usual term is " Meuse." — Ed.

230 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

Stained — When the ground has been passed over

by cattle, or previously by the hounds.
Stooping — When hounds will not hunt, it is said

they will not stoop to the scent ; that is, will

not put their noses to the ground.
Slack — When the scent is bad, hounds are apt to

be indifferent, and will scarcely try to hunt

their fox, and are said to be slack.
Streaming — When hounds go over or across an

open country, like a flock of pigeons, it is called

streaming away.
Speaks — When a hound owns the scent, it is some-
times said such a hound speaks to it ; if it is

a safe hound it is enough to say he " speaks."
Tight in his Tongue — When a hound seldom

throws his tongue, though not quite mute, it

is said he is tight in his tongue.
Tally-ho — The halloo when any one sees a fox, and

only then. If desirable to halloo it loudly, it

should be pronounced ta-a-le-o.
Throw-up — The exact spot where the hounds lost

the scent in chase is known by their throwing

up their heads ; and it is said they threw

up here.
Ticklish Scent^ — Is when the scent varies from

good to bad, and at times scarcely any in the

HUNTING TERMS 231

chase, although just before it was very

good.
Tailing — AVhen hounds m chase run in a line, and

not abreast, it is called tailing ; generally owing

to an indifferent scent.
Throw off — The cover into which hounds are first

thrown. It is said, they threw off in that cover.
Weedy Hounds — ^Hounds which are weakly made,

and not fit to breed from.
Ware Riot — A rate for hounds, instead of Beware

riot. It is said, Ware, or Ware hare — or other

riot.
Whelps — Hound puppies, when very young.
Wind in their Teeth — When hounds are running

against the wind.
Yoi Over — When a fox has crossed a ride, it is

hallooed.

CHAPTER VI

FOX -HOUNDS

As well as shape, full well he knows.
To kill their fox, they must have nose.

N the accompanying Plate,
Fig. 1 is intended to
represent a hound tol-
erably free from faults,
in order that it may
be compared with Fig.
2, which has most of
the faults for which
hounds are drafted, in
point of shape. Few men have opportunities to
compare the two in the kennel, and for them this
attempt is intended. It will readily be observed
that the head of No. 2 is too short and thick,
with a bald face, which is generally dishked as much

^

Fitr. )

T. Smith, Esj., JlL

Fiff.

Facing page 232.

A GOOD Hound and a fallty Onk.

FOX-HOUNDS 233

ill hounds as in horses. The neck is too short and
throaty, the shoulders upright and loaded ; also a
want of muscle in the arm and forelegs, and the
most common fault in the make of hounds not
being straight below the knee. No. 2 is not only
crooked there, but much too long from the knee to
the foot ; which is also long and flat, instead of
being short and round hke a cat's foot. The same
faults with the hinder-legs, too great length from
the foot to the hock, instead of the length being
from the hock upwards to the hip, — a great point
in hounds and horses, and a criterion of strength
for speed : for instance, compare it with a hare.
No. 2. also shows weakness in the hock itself,
which is small instead of large, and also a falling off
in muscle in the haunches or gaskins, which should
be wide and full, hke a hare trussed for the spit ;
the loins are also weak, and would be called slack
in the loins. It is also flat-sided, not deep enough
in the ribs, consequently the frame is not large
enough to give the lungs free play, and it could not
possibly be a good- winded hound. But to judge of
the frame of a hound, its head should be between
the person's knees, in order that he may see the
width of ribs behind the shoulders, where most
hounds fall off", though this is not observed by the

234 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

generality of persons who look at hounds. It is also
right to stand at the side as well, to see if the legs
are straight and do not stand over at the knee, or
on the contrary ; but standing over at the knee is
often brought on by age and hard work, though
frequently hounds are born so. When so, it is
better not to keep them.

It is true that breeders of hounds of the present
day pride themselves on having bred some as near
perfection, in point of shape and make, as possible ;
but the question arises, when on this subject,
whether such hounds will be considered perfect
fifty years hence ? The writer is induced to doubt
this from the fact that the pictures of the best
hounds — such, for instance, as were painted by the
best artists of that day, Sartorius and Stubbs— are
drawn with crooked legs, flat-sided, and loose in
their loins, as unhke what is now thought perfection
as possible ; and it is fair to suppose that they were
then thought handsome. Yet these hounds, which
belonged to the celebrated Meynell and others, did
wonders. For instance, on a trial of pace across the
flat at Newmarket, they ran it in as short a time as
hounds of the present day could do it, or even shorter ;
and, however contrary it is to the writer's principle
as to the shape of hounds, he is bound to say that

FOX-HOUNDS 235

some few hounds are now bred too short, that is,
too closely ribbed up to go the tremendous pace
which has become the fashion in the grass coun-
tries ; for it will be found, on close attention, that a
lengthy hound has more freedom and goes with
greater ease than one that is ribbed up and shorter.
The gi'eat point therefore is to combine sufficient
strength with the length, or the day will be too
long also, even in the fast countries, and most
assuredly so in all others — thus leaving it in doubt
what will be thought perfection fifty years hence !
But as to bad legs and feet, there can be no doubt
that they are nearly exterminated for ever ; and
the only surprise is, how such legs and feet ever
got into the hound at all, unless by crossing with
some other sort of dog to acquire nose or courage ;
for, on looking at nearly all wild animals, it will
be seen that their legs are straight and good.
For instance, who ever saw a crooked - legged
fox ; their legs are straight as arrows, which is the
case with most other wild animals, which never
mix.

In respect to the size of fox-hounds, there is still
a difference of opinion, though not so gi-eat as was
the case a few years since ; it being now generally
considered that hounds can be too large, particularly

236 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

in hilly and flinty countries. A dog of twenty-four
inches is about the height to be preferred ; but,
notwithstanding this general opinion, the sporting
world are much indebted to those gentlemen who
still keep hounds of the largest size, or in the course
of a few years the breed would probably dwindle
below the mark, that is, if no very large hounds
existed to breed from, as in all other tame animals ;
and however prejudiced persons may be against
large hounds, or however indifferent they may be
about appearances in general, still they must all
agree in opinion, that a pack of fox-hounds should
look Uke a pack of fox-hounds. It may be said
^vith truth that a pack of dwarf fox-hounds, not
larger than harriers, will kill as many foxes as a full-
sized pack, if equal attention has been paid to the
blood ; but, in the present age and rage for riding,
half of these small hounds would be ridden over
in countries where the banks are high and ditches
wide, for they cannot take them in their spring, and
often fall backwards, and keep puUing each other
backwards, causing much delay, and requiring more
patience than men have, consequently they would be
ridden over. Neither can small hounds go through
deep wet land so well as a large, fair-sized hound ;
particularly where the water stands, as it does, in

FOX-HOUNDS 237

the ^^^nter, in the New Forest and other parts,
which would reach up to the bodies of small hounds,
and they would be swimming great part of tlie time.
The object of all masters and breeders of hounds
is to acquire power, combined ^vith other good
quahties ; but it is to be regretted that there is not
more attention paid as to breeding for nose and
stoutness, from which all would derive the benefit,
except the wily animal. Even in the upper countries
it would be more satisfactory if they oftener killed
their fox, as our forest friend truly says —

But no, with him it's all the pace ;
Then hounds will look him in the face,
And seem to say, ]\Iy noble master.
You cannot have us go much faster ;
For we, on flying so full intent,
A mile behind have left the scent.

S. X.

This rage for pace and shape in some measure
accoimts for the gi'eat deficiency of nose, in com-
parison with what it was formerly. It is true that
hounds may be, and are nearer perfection, in point of
beauty. A throaty hound, for instance, is rarely
seen in a pack, although very common some years
back, when men thought more of hunting than of
riding ; but by getting rid of the throat the nose

238 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

had gone with it, for a throaty hound has in-
variably a good nose ; and that hounds were so
until the end of the last century nearly all sporting
pictures of hounds will prove. It happened, some
years since, a gentleman purchased an old-estab-
hshed pack of hounds and wi'ote to request the
writer to go and look at them before he sent away
those he intended to di-aft. After seeing those which
were to be sent away, and inquiring why they were
fixed on, he was told because they were so throaty.
The reply was, "As you are going to hunt a
strange country, if you wish to show sport, and
kill your foxes, keep those hounds, for, depend
upon it, they were originally kept for their blood,
not for their beauty." These hounds were kept,
and during the next season the gentleman wrote
to say that he had great sport, but that if he
had parted with those throaty hounds, he should
not have killed one fox in ten that he had done, for
they were the only hounds that could hunt a cold
scent. Of course the plan is to breed for both
beauty and goodness ; and it is much to be regretted
that a cross so seldom nicks, as one could wish,
without faults of generations back coming out, one
side or the other — probably not half a dozen times
in a man's lifetime — owing to the age of the hound

FOX-HOUNDS 239

being past before it can be well known enough to
repeat it ; for even if it nicks the first time, the
produce will be three years old before they can be
depended on ; even if they then show their quahties,
the sire must be five or six years old, as he must
have been most likely three when the bitch was
put to him, as no man hkes to breed from an un-
tried dog in general, particularly with a valuable
bitch. In addition to this difficulty of repeating the
cross when it nicks, it is ten to one but that some
accident happens to either one or the other ; no
sort of difficulties should prevent the repetition
whilst it is possible, — that is, if the dog and bitch
are in any part of the kingdom.

If a man is determined in breeding to attend to
nose and stoutness, he will be sure to succeed in
getting a good pack, and one which will go faster,
take the season through, than those men who bred
for beauty and pace ; and he need not fear of also
getting a pack clever in shape too.

The writer has made many experiments in the
breeding of fox-hounds ; and, in consequence of the
circumstance that most clever men who have
distinguished themselves have been the offspring
of clever mothers, the following plan was tried,
more than once, in order to discover whether young

240 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

hounds inherit most good quahties from the dog or
from the bitch. Having selected a bitch of three
seasons, which had never distinguished herself,
either as good in drawing, in the chase, or in
cold-hunting, although having no decided fault as
to slackness, and put this bitch to some dog
which was considered to have most of the good
quahties required in a fox-hound, the produce in-
herited only some of them.

He also tried the experiment the other way,
selecting a dog hound of three or four seasons,
which had not shown himself a good dra^ver, good
in the chase, or a good cold-hunter. This dog was
put to an extraordinary good bitch, which had most
of the quahties required ; and the produce was in
every instance superior. It is fair to add, that the
last-mentioned bitches Avere from the best blood,
which will generally prove to be the case, if they
are remarkable, although probably a generation or
two back.

It is a remarkable fact in breeding, and worthy
of notice, that if a young hound has any peculiarity
which the sire had, such as standing in a particular
way in the kennel, or in following closely the hunts-
man's horse, or any other trick of the sire, he will
also generally inherit with it all his good quahties.

FOX-HOUNDS 241

and may be bred from without fear the first year ;
and if this (which is the only way of finding out a
cross which nicks early) is a lucky one, it will be
knoAvn soon enough to be repeated several times.
But it must not be till after the produce mth that
bitch has been tried ; consequently two years after
it will be known, and the same bitch can be put to
him again, but not till then.

The ^mter was once asked the following question
in the company of four masters of hounds. We
four agree in thinking that bitches are quicker in
cover than dogs ; what say you ? Yes ; not because
they are bitches, but because they are smaller, and
can go with greater ease after a fox in thick cover,
brambles, furze, etc., than dogs ; but find dogs the
same size as the bitches, and hunt them together,
and they will be as often fii'st as the bitches ; and
much oftener right, not being naturally so flighty.
It might have been added, that to have hounds
perfect for work in every sort of country, the dogs
should look hke bitches, and the bitches should
look hke dogs.

It may appear paradoxical, but it is nevertheless
true, that the proof of a hound's goodness is, that
he is never remarkable during a run ; and there are
many good sportsmen who would prefer a hound of

R

THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

this nature than one which is oftener seen at head
than any of the rest. Of course a hound that is
not remarkable is never last, or where he should
not be, but holds the Hne, and is what is called by
some a good hne-hunter, which is the criterion of
all goodness ; that is, if he hunts and drives a scent,
too, without dwelhng on it.

It is observable that large young hounds are
not so much disposed for riot as small ones, when
they are entered ; and one reason is that they cannot
follow it where a small one can, which is frequently
proved by a brother and sister. And when large
dog hounds do not work a fox in thick brambles
hke the bitches, it is that the bitches stick to their
fox and can follow him without difficulty, when a
large dog hound passes the small run or track where
the fox went under brambles or bushes, and goes
round, which the fox soon finds out and does not
leave it so soon as when the bitches press him closely
by their following him, for they can

Every inch his footsteps trace.

It admits of a doubt, whether hunting dogs and
bitches separately is an advantage, or whether any-
thing is gained by it, except appearance, as it makes
the packs more even. It is true that the bitches are

FOX-HOUNDS 243

quicker as a pack than dogs, but they do not
always show the most sport, or kill the most foxes.
They are apt to be flighty, and unless very strong,
with four- and five-year hunters, they will not kill
anything like so many as the dogs, and in a wood-
land country it is decidedly objectionable. They are
not so free with their tongues, and often sHp away
without any one knowing it ; on this account alone
it is desirable to have some dog hounds, which
will also assist in holding the Une for them. And if
a complaint is made that the dog hounds have not
quite dash enough, let a few flying bitches go with
the dogs, and it will improve both packs.

The plan of spaying young bitches which are
light and weedy, answers beyond the belief of those
who have not tried it ; so much so, that although
when spayed they were too light to breed from, in
the course of a year or two they furnish so much as
to make it often a cause of regret that they cannot
be bred from ; but it ought not to cause regret,
as there is httle doubt that the improvement is
owing to the operation. It is well known that it
also improves the nose, and they often become
the best cold-hunters in the pack, although very
different before, and far better than the sisters
Avhich were not spayed ; besides which, they hunt

244 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

generally several years longer tlian open bitches.
It is no uncommon thing to see a spayed bitch
leading the pack after hunting seven or eight
seasons. The cheapest pack of fox-hounds to keep
is a pack of spayed bitches ; they do more work
with less food than any others, and always look
in good condition ; but unluckily this cannot be
adopted generally, on account of futurity. One
great objection to bitches hunting alone is that there
is not so much music ; and it will be noticed that if
a few dog hounds hunt with a pack of bitches, even
they will not throw their tongues so freely after a
short time : evil communications, they say, corrupt
good manners ; unless it is thought that the bitches
do not give them so much time to talk about it.
This may be the case, but unless they can say they
have killed their fox when they go home, they had
better have had a little more chat together.

There is a prejudice against cutting dog hounds
which are slight and weedy, but it improves their
appearance as much as it does the bitches ; and it
also improves their nose, and their power for work,
and in every other respect, as in the other case. It
is a good plan if a dog hound is quarrelsome in the
kennel, if it is not desirable to preserve the sort, —
which should be weU considered first, or the

FOX-HOUNDS 245

improvement in the hound afterwards may be the
cause of constant regret. But there are always
stalhon hounds to be found equally good.

There are certain faults which should never be
overlooked, let the hound be ever so good in
every other way. A mute hound is unpardonable ;
if he should be in every other respect perfect, so
much the greater reason for drafting him. He
finds your fox in cover, and goes on with him ; the
rest of the pack get together on this line, presently
come to a check, then get away and another
check. You see a man at work, and ask, " Have
you seen a fox ? " " No ; but I seed a whitish hound
go along as fast as he could go just now." This is
our mute friend who goes away without saymg a
word ; the consequence is that his having passed
along the hne of scent, although the leading
hounds can hunt it, and do a certain distance, yet
at times they find the hound's scent as well, and
do not much hke it. Eventually, nine times
out of ten, it brings them to a check every five
hundred yards ; and, if it is a bad scent, much
oftener. As an old sportsman in the New Forest
once said to the writer, who had remarked to
him on a hound having been first all day : " I'll
tell you how it is ; d — n him, he runs mute."

246 THE DL\RY OF A HUXTS:MAN

You set two men to run up a hill, one of them
to halloo all the "way up and the other to run
mute, and you "vvill find that the man who ran
mute will get to the top before the other gets half
way. Indeed, when hounds go the best pace, they
must go mute ; and the few that do throw their
tongues are those whimpering behind, because they
cannot get up.

Another fault is skirting. This is also often a
source of regret, for many capital hounds be-
come skirters, and it is often a proof of their
haAino; greater sagacitv than the rest. How very
frequently do you see the skirting hound make the
most beautiful casts and surprising hits of his own
accord. But one skirter makes many, both of
hounds and men ; and creates the greatest confusion
should he get on another fox, etc. In short, there
is no end to the mischief he creates. You see him
shpping do^^Tl a ride to cross the line of the fox,
before the pack, and bring them to a check ; or
crossing the Hne of another fox, etc.

Xot'vdthstanding this, a pack of skirters would
be as likely to kill their fox the first year, if not
more so, than any other ; and it may be often
remarked that a new pack kiU more foxes the first
year than any other year afterwards, — which pack

FOX-HOUNDS 247

consist principally of draft hounds ; consequently,
many are skirters, probably half the pack ; but as
they are strangers to the coimtr}% they do not skirt
so much, but hold together better ; and always
being at work as they are (in their o^^ti way),
against so many heads a fox has not much chance.
The success may also be in some measure partly
attributed to a new pack not entering many yomig
hounds the first year.

Hounds that dwell too much on the scent, or
that throw their tongues when behmd the pack in
chase, should also be drafted.

Bitches are generally more unsteady than dogs ;
but if either are not broken from it the first year,
they seldom become perfectly steady afterwards.

The sooner bitches are put to dogs after the first
of January- the better, as few packs are strong
enough to spare many bitches early in the season ;
and when they do, they generally feel the differ-
ence, that is, if the bitches are worth breeding
from ; therefore it is much better to have a greater
number of bitches than usual, than to weaken
the pack by taking out the brood bitches, as no
doubt the earUer the whelps come the better.
The bitches had better not hunt for a week after
taking the dog, nor be hunted longer than a month

248 THE DL\RY OF A HUNTS:\L\X

after that time, making five weeks after. The most
favom-ite blood should be sent to the best walks,
butchers, etc., as, according to an old sajing, "All
beaut}' goes in at the mouth."

As before stated, the two great points to attend
to in breeding are stoutness and nose ; therefore it
is best only to breed those that are stout as vriie
and that never get slack, and those which can hunt
a cold scent. The two quahties often go together ;
for it is the stoutness which makes a hound ^\TLling
to tPk' to hunt and make use of his nose, which a
slack hound would not try to do. But much of
this depends on the huntsman. If he is persevering,
his pack tntU soon become hunters ; but they must
be bo?'?i ^^'ith good noses, and none ought to be
allowed to be bred from which have not.

Every huntsman, at times, must feel disposed
to say that he wWl not breed from any hound that
\\-ill not always draw well ; and, doubtless, he would
adopt a most sensible plan, for almost all hounds
that draw well are stout, and have good noses to
feel a drag, as they must do in dra-v^g ; and if
some hoimds draw Avell in the afternoon (when the
great part of the pack are slack and woQ not draw),
it is because they are stout

The sagacit}^ of old fox-hounds is far beyond that

FOX-HOUNDS 249

kno^^^l of most animals, and in nothing greater
probably than in their finding their way home great
distances. The -vmter was once left upwards of
forty miles from his kennel, after an extraordinary
run, which was described by Ximrod some years
back, and two hounds were missing which were
seen to go off "v\ith another scent at the end of the
run, when a fresh fox crossed them. Nothing was
heard of them for three days ; but on the fourth
they both found their way to the kennel, not look-
ing the worse for their travels. Had they followed
the track of the hoimds that night, or even next
mornuig, it would not have been extraordinary, of
course.

The folloA^dng is another proof of sagacity. Not
long since the writer went to see a celebrated pack
throw off, he being mounted on a hack. When
they were running hard, and going across the open
— having left a large cover behind them — at the
edge of which he pulled up, on seemg them at a
check more than a quarter of a mile off, when they
came to a road. Just at this time the whipper-in
rode up to him and asked where they were. On
tlieir being pointed out to him, it was suggested by
the ^mter that he had better wait a few minutes
and see what was to happen, as the huntsman was

250 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

properly making his cast forward, after the pack
had been held on by the side of the road for some
distance, and no touch of a scent. At this time a
couple and a half of old hounds were seen cantering
back, lashing their sterns on the very Hne they had
gone forward, and were coming straight to the
cover, occasionally turning round to listen if the
pack was running. When at length they got
nearly to where the whipper-in and writer were,
that is, close to the large wood, he was in the act
of smacking his whip and rating them on, when the
wiiter requested him to be quiet and see the result,
which was that, as soon as they got back to the
cover-side, they hit off the scent, the fox having
come back the line he went. On which the whip
held up his cap, gave a view-halloo, and brought
the pack back ; after which the fox made the same
point over a fine country and was killed. But the
cause of the fox heading back was a waggon and
horses, which the writer could see up the road, but
which the huntsman was not aware of ; and it must
have been exactly opposite the spot where the fox
would otherwise have crossed the road, at the time
he got there, and headed back.

CHAPTER VII

THE FOX

T is scarcely possible to
describe, either with the
pencil or the pen, the
beauty and powers of
this extraordinary ani-
mal ; it has often been
tried on canvas with as
Httle success as with
If an artist was desired to paint the most
perfect animal in the shape of a quadruped, it
would be not a fox, but the fox, for they are all so
nearly ahke in point of symmetry ; and, on exam-
ination, it will be found that no animal has so
much muscle in proportion to its size, and the
bone, hke that of a thorough-bred horse, is like
ivory : in point of strength of loins, nothing can
exceed it. It is only necessary to notice the width

the pen.

252 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

of frame behind the shoulders, which gives so much
space for the lungs, and which accounts for the
extraordinary wind it has often showii itself to
possess, to the no small surprise and disappoint-
ment of both hounds and men ; for there are foxes
which, if they have time to prepare themselves for
work, will defy any pack to kill, even with a
good scent, and they will have enough to do even
with a burning scent, without having the usual
accidents of checks, etc., in a run. These are
seasoned foxes which one meets with now and
then — for a very good reason, that they are always
awake ; and either steal away, or leave hounds too
far behind to allow of a famihar acquaintance.

The illustration represents the finish of a good
run Avith the Avriter's hounds in the Hambledon
country, 1828. The fox ran into a chalk -pit
with the hounds close at him, and a hound was
seen by the writer and many others hanging to
the fox by his brush for several minutes, till the
fox was exhausted and fell amongst the hounds
below.

The fox is the most deceiving animal as to
powers. INIany huntsmen have gone out deter-
mined, if there is a good scent, to kill their fox in a
short time, with the same feeling that many went

SW

"^i^ .«,i^"

Pr^

•^;.

... r^

>■■ *^i

T. Smith, /■:.<:.;., del. lacinspai^c ;;5.-.

Finish to a good Run with tiik IIamulkdon Hounds, 182U.

afe^^j*-^sw. -i^'"'"'

r 6";/«//;, rs; , r/t/

A BEATEN Fox.

Fauns pa^c i^T,.

THE FOX 253

out to the Carlos^ in Spain, but have found out
that he takes more killing than they bargained for,
being a much stouter fellow than was exjDected,
and the only chance was a sharp brush at first.

The two sketches of a fox are intended to re^^re-
sent one that is quite fresh, and one that is rather
beaten. Few men have opportunities to observe
the difference, and consequently mistake a fresh
fox for a hunted one, and often declare most
positively that the fox they have seen is the hunted
one ; and the huntsman is induced to go away with
him, but finds, to his regret, that it is a fresh one,
when all the horses are dead beaten, as well as the
fox which is left behind. If this hint should be
the means of making men more cautious how they
give so decided an opinion, it will be a point gained.
It is worthy of notice, when a fox is beaten he
goes very high, with his back up, etc.

It may be that some of these observations on
this animal are not generally known, but they have
been ascertained by experience to be correct. In
the first place, that a fox breeds but one Utter of
cubs in a year, and that all the vixens in the country
lay up their young about the same time, that is,
within six weeks, or thereabouts, making the 25th

^ Charley, a slang term for a fox ; origin^ Charles Fox.

254 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

of March about the middle of the breedmg season.
Old men and sportsmen who have paid the greatest
attention to the habits of the fox appear to agree
on that point. One sohtary instance has come
to the knowledge of the writer during his life
which has been much devoted to these subjects
generally, and that was most remarkable. It was
related to him by the Hon. Wilham Gage, who
actually saw a litter of young foxes, about one
month old, in the month of February 1832, in one
of his covers in Hampshire. Fortunately for the
pleasure of fox-hunting, this is a solitary exception,
but of which there can be no doubt, as they were
brought in by the keeper, and were often seen
afterwards. It is no less certain, that it is an
almost unheard-of circumstance for a fox to breed
earlier than about the general time mentioned
above ; otherwise instances must have occurred to
disprove this assertion. The cubs would be dis-
covered in some way, either by accident or when
digging out a fox ; or keepers and earth-stoppers
would see that the earths were used by cubs.
Nothing of the sort ever occurs until the begin-
ning of the month of March, when the earths
are drawn by the vixens ; and about the end of
the month and in April, cubs are frequently

THE FOX 255

found above ground in the New Forest. Several
instances have occurred when the vixen fox has
been seen to steal away from a furze cover, carry-
ing a cub in her mouth, when she has heard the
hounds drawing ; and nothing is more common
than for a vixen to remove her cubs, when they
have been disturbed, or the place visited by any
one. They have been kno"\vn to carry away a whole
litter two or three miles in one night, when the
cubs were about ten days old, about which age
they begin to see.

The food of foxes, as is well known, varies in
different countries, except in rabbits, which they
always will get if they can, as they prefer them to
any other description of food ; and the proof of it
is that a bet of a hundred to one can be had
that every billet of a fox has rabbits' fur in it.
That they do prefer rabbits is easily proved to be
the case, by confining in some place a fox, and with
him a rabbit and every other sort of food, Hve or
dead, that can be thought of, and he will take the
rabbit fu'st to a certainty. This is not a great
reason, but the great reason why keepers disUke
foxes ; for every fox destroys rabbits in one year
sufficient to have supplied the keeper with gin ; con-
sequently, when he sees a fox, he loses his spirits as

256 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

well as his temper. The fox finds the rabbits in
the stops when very young, and when they are not
to be had he Uves upon the old ones, both of which
are often the keeper's perquisites. This is so well
known, that many gentlemen who wish well to
hunting will not allow their keepers to seU the
rabbits. In the New Forest and elsewhere foxes
live principally on beetles, the wings of which are
seen in their biUets ; if near the sea they Uve a great
deal on fish which they find on the shore. It is
not here pretended to assert that foxes wiU never
do any mischief, but that, just as when once a
dog takes to killing sheep, he continues to do so ;
so with a fox, if one learns to take poultry he con-
tinues to do so till taken himself. But there are
hundreds of old foxes which never tasted a fowl ;
nor do they commit a twentieth part of the mischief
to game that is sometimes talked of by keepers,
who tell their masters that it is no use to preserve
pheasants whilst there are foxes. Surely some
signs would be left in covers, if foxes did destroy so
many pheasants, — they would not eat up feathers
and all ; and the wi'iter can, with a safe conscience,
declare that he never saw three places where a
pheasant had been destroyed by a fox during the
whole time he hunted hounds, although constantly

THE FOX 257

looking whenever he went in covers abounding
with pheasants and foxes at the same time.

The following is a system which has been known
to be adopted by keepers who are determined
enemies to foxes, and who wish their masters to
beheve, not only that they are very attentive to
their duty, but that foxes do much more harm
than they really do, as they say (it being the
time they have cubs). The keeper adopts this
plan : he shoots a hen pheasant, and having cut
it into several pieces he lays the feathers, which
are bloody, about the cover, probably in twenty
different places. Shortly afterwards he begs his
master to go and see the damage the fox has done,
and takes him round to all the places where the
feathers, etc., are, and persuades his master that
there has been a hen pheasant killed at each place.
This trick is played at other seasons as well ; by
which means, having apparently shown such a con-
vincing proof, he often gains permission to kill the
fox, — " Only in a quiet way, you know, sir ! "

There are other charges against foxes which
they do not deserve. One is that of taking away
lambs from a sheepfold. The wiiter does not
mean to say that such a thing has never happened,
— though it has never been proved to him, — but

258 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

the following did happen. A respectable farmer, who
used to hunt regularly with his hounds (and who
will probably see this), told him that he was sorry
to say there was a rogue that had taken away a
lamb several nights following, and begged that the
hounds might draw the hedgerows about, and find
this villainous fox. A few days afterwards he came
and urged it more, saying that other lambs had
been taken. As it was an unlikely country to find, a
by-day was fixed on. Every hedge and hedgerow
at all likely was drawn without the slightest appear-
ance of a fox having been there. The hounds were
then trotted off to the next wood, about a mile,
shortly found, and after a good run killed their fox.
The brush was given to the farmer, who went home
well satisfied that this was the right fox, and told
his shepherd of it, who was equally pleased. A
few days afterwards the farmer came again, and
said, that having lost some more lambs since the
hounds were there, his shepherd, unknown to him,
had set a trap for the fox, and in it next morning
was found, not a /bo?, but his master's favourite
pointer, which he at once destroyed, and never lost
another lamb.

The likely part of a cover to find a fox in is
where it is low enough to admit the rays of the sun

THE FOX 259

to reach him in his kennel during some part of the
day if possible, to which he retm*ns as soon as
dayhght appears, and is seldom seen after dusk in
the morning, unless he is disturbed or in quest of a
vixen in the month of February ; but cubs are apt
to move in the daytime when they are nearly half-
grown, until they have been hunted or frightened.
Foxes, in some countries where there are forests
with old trees, or pollards covered with ivy, are
often known to be found lying in them, having
made their kennel a considerable height from the
ground, in proof of which the following fact
happened to the writer, when he had just killed a
fox, although after a good run, in Savernake forest.
The keeper came up and said, " Sir, here is
another ready for you up in an oak-tree ! " The
novelty of the thing induced him against his better
judgment to see the result of turning him off his
roost. The hounds were taken aside some distance,
and a man cUmbed up the tree ; but the fox, which
could be seen, did not move tiU the man shook the
ivy on which he lay, when off he jumped, and had
not the under branches saved him he must have
been killed. As it was, he rebounded on reaching
the ground, three feet at least, and away he went,
none the worse for his flight. The hounds were

260 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

shortly lain on, and went straight to some immense
woods ; and the day finished with running three or
fom- foxes at dark. In Sherwood Forest, Notting-
hamshire, and in other forests, foxes often he in
hollow trees, and very frequently run into them
and save themselves when hunted ; but sometimes
are bolted by terriers, which has been made a
subject for pictures in those countries.

When a litter of cubs is kno"VMi of, the sooner
they are moved the better ; if in an earth, apply a
match of brimstone, made thus — melt the brim-
stone over a foe, then spread on a sheet of brown
paper ; cut it in strips, an inch or two wide, then
spUt the end of a stick about eighteen inches long,
put in one of the strips, and stick the other end into
the ground and set foe to it ; or smear the side of
the hole with gas-tar — much the shortest way — and
the old one will take the cubs away where they
probably may not be found again. This should be
done when cubs are very young, or fox-takers will
have them if they are old enough to take care of
themselves, or even to eat. They have dogs which
can go into the main earths, and are taught to bring
the cubs out ahve in their mouths ; therefore when
they are moved these fox-takers will not readily
fold them, and must be seen if they are looking

THE FOX 261

about for them ; and at this time of the year it is
well worth while to employ some persons to look
out for these customers.

Cubs which are bought and turned out seldom
come to anything, although they are as fine-looking
foxes as ^\'ild ones, unless they are allowed to
remain where they are put do^\ai till late in the
season, at all events till after Christmas, by which
time they have learnt to find their own food, and
have probably been moved by shooters, dogs, etc.,
and have learnt their way about from cover to
cover. But if a litter of cubs has been put do'v\ii in a
wood and regularly fed, although they are all fine
foxes, and hunted so early as September, in October
or November they may be found once ; but they
will be frightened away from the ground they
know and from their food to a strange country,
where they will be in a star^dng state, which A\ill
obhge them to visit dangerous places, sheepfolds,etc.,
and they will nearly all, most probably, be killed by
shepherds' dogs or others ; not one may ever find
its way back. This is a caution well worthy of
attention by those who happen to have foxes
brought them which were bred in their own
country ; but it is strange that any one will buy his
neighbour's foxes, for how would any man hke to

262 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

hear of a neighbour buying his pheasants eggs ? for
on both sport equally depends.

The difference in the sagacity of young foxes
bred up in the above manner, and those bred up
naturally by the vixen, at the same age, is almost
beyond beUef, owing, of course, to their education
by tlie old vixen. One proof amongst many
known the ^vTiter gives. After killing a cub with
his hounds, another ran into a rabbit hole ; the
whipper-in got hold of the brush, and in pulling
the cub out, he pulled off half the brush. The
hounds were gone home, but he brought home this
cub, about eight miles from the cover ; and in the
same evening it was marked and turned out close
by the kennel. Nothing more was thought about
it till near Christmas, when the same wood was
drawn where this fox was bred and dug out. He
was again found, and after a good run was killed ;
and he was known by his short brush, and the
mark. This young fox, in the month of October,
had found his way back to this cover, having had
to cross two wide rivers, and travel eight miles.

Therefore, when young foxes are brought, it is
by far the best plan, if possible, to find out exactly
Avhere they came from ; to do which, the whipper-
in should go back with the man who brought them,

THE FOX 263

on the pretence of wishing to see if there are any-
more, or some other reason, and ascertain exactly
where they were taken from ; then, unknown to
the man, go if possible the same night at dark and
put the cubs down again in some place, with a
little food, where they cannot get away of them-
selves ; and although they may have been taken
some days, the vixen will be sure to be looking for
them, and will find them out, and take care of
them ; which, by going very early next morning,
he ^vill find is the case, and ten to one but they are
safe. The only use of cubs which are turned dowii
is to blood the young hounds, and save thereby
the necessity of kilhng your native cubs.

Foreign foxes, it is said, will not show such sport
as the foxes of the country ; this may, or may
not be, for the fact of having had an extraordinary
run with a decided French fox induces the ^viiter
to have a better opinion of them. This was a two
years old fox which, through not having been moved
the first year he was turned do^^^l, survived, and was
as stout as any English fox. But it is all waste, both
of money and trouble, unless they are left quiet for
some time, as stated above, till they get seasoned.
That such was the case with this Frenchman, the
follo"\\dng account Avill prove. He was found by

264 THE DL\IIY OF A HUNTS:MAN

the writer in the outskirts of his country, and ran
directly straight away through the adjoining hunt,
and was killed twelve miles from where he was
found. It was remarked that the hair on the brush
was longer and lighter coloured than usual, and
the fur on the skin was finer and softer ; a member
of the hunt in which it was killed took up the fox,
before he was given to the homids, and exclaimed
at once, " D — d odd ! " and it was ascertained by
a mark to be one of a lot fi'om France the year
before.

It is probable that some may think it injudicious
to make known that such things are ever imported
into this country, but these persons should also
bear in mind that it may have quite a contrary
effect, for when men who are hostile to fox-hunt-
ing think that they can destroy the means of sport,
they ought to know that any man who likes to be
at the expense of it, can import a thousand foxes
in a month.

The A\Titer takes the opportunity of declaiming
against turning do^vm foxes, ha\^ng been fortunate
in hunting a country so well stocked as not to
require it ; but if it were necessary to resort to any
method, he would most assuredly adopt the follow-
ing, which is the only good and sure plan of getting

THE FOX 265

foxes in parts of a country where there are no
holding covers, and in which part of the country it
may be desirable to some residents, all of whom, if
they have any land, have it in their power, at a
trifling expense, to get native foxes ; and the
gi'eater the distance from large covers, the better
mil be the runs, if these foxes get to them. It
often happens that a ^ixen fox, mth or mthout
cubs, is dug out, and brought to the master of the
hounds, probably by accident, or from a part of the
country which is seldom or never hunted, ^^^len
this is the case, the plan is to make a false earth, —
a di'ain about three feet deep or more, where
necessary, about twelve inches mde ; to be fomly
covered over mth tliick boards, or rough timber ;
then cover it with earth, well rammed doA^^l ; the
drain to be about ten yards long, at the end a
space about three feet square. Then get a light,
but strong chain, and a strong collar, and chain
up the A-ixen ; the end of the chain to be fastened
about six feet mthin the hole, so that when the
fox goes in to the end, she di'aws into the di'ain all
the chain. The cubs to be put in mth her. They
will remain mth the 'sixen until they have found
then- way about the country ; and by Christmas
they will have found out the nearest covers,

266 THE DIARY OF A HUNTS:\L\N

and ■v\'ill soon after take to them. But the vixen
is to be still kept chained up as long as she lives,
and she vnR breed a Mtter of cubs every year, for
the dog foxes ^vill be sure to find her out. The
situation most desirable would be near a pond or
stream of water, when it would not be necessary
for any person to carry a supply of water, and it
should be in some open place, within sight of a
cottage where the person who takes care of her
Uves. A butcher should be engaged to supply
some sheeps' paunches, or offal of some sort, twice
a week ; this, and the remains of poultry, etc., from
the great houses near, ^\ill be food for her. The
ad^'antages of this plan over that of turning do^m
and feeding cubs ^\dthout a Aixen, is that, when
these cubs are found or frightened after they take
to the woods, they avtU come straight to the vixen
where they were bred, and be safe until they are
old enough to show sport, when the earth could be
stopped by an iron grating the day the hounds were
expected. Not so ^^^th those turned do^\^l and fed
by hand, if they are hunted before Christmas, or
before they have learnt the country and how to
find their o-vvn food. On being driven away from
what has been their home, they know not where
they are, or their way back, and are seldom heard

THE FOX 267

of or seen again ; at least such is known to be the
case \\ath those that have been marked.

It may possibly be suggested that it would be
easy for some person to come in the night and take
away this vixen fox. This is a mistake, for she
would di'aw into the earth the whole chain, six feet
mthin the opening of the drain or earth, when any
person approached her ; and it would be necessary
for them to dig her out, which would be no easy
task. But it should be recollected that a fox in
this state is not a wild animal, and a person would
be just as liable to be prosecuted for steahng it, as
he would be for breaking open a stable and steal-
ing a horse ; or how does it happen that tame foxes
which are chained up in yards, etc., are never stolen
in preference to a dog ? One is a sure sale, the
other not.

One of the great objections against turning down
foxes is that they are generally infected with
mange, most particularly those purchased of regular
fox-sellers, or, more properly, of those receivers of
stolen goods, for such they are. This, when easily
and satisfactorily explained, 'v\dll probably be the
means of deterring some masters of hounds from
encouraging so nefarious, unhandsome, and dis-
honourable a practice, that is, supposing these

268 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

foxes were bred in any hunting country ; for the
consequence of it is that the mangy young foxes,
in the course of a short time, find out all the
fox-earths near, and instinctively make use of
them, thereby infecting them with mange, so that
every native which enters these earths for some
time afterwards, catches the disease. The reason
why foxes, purchased as above described, become
thus mangy is, that this atrocious trade is
generally kept by men who reside in London, and
they have not a room sufficiently large to keep
them clean ; and when once that one room has
been infected, it is scarcely possible to cleanse it.
There is another cause to which the introduction
of mangy foxes into the country may be attributed,
that is, owing to a fox having by some means taken
poisoned food, but not sufficient to destroy him.
This is well known to have that effect on all animals,
and in none more than a fox and a rat, both of
which in the course of time recover their health ;
but it is at least two years before they recover their
coats or fur. That they do recover is certain,
although it has not been discovered what its
instinct has apphed as a cure ; but to something
there is httle doubt, as we may judge by the canine
race, for unless a dog which is affected by mange is

THE FOX 269

not properly attended to, he will scratch himself to
death, or become mifit to live, if fastened up and
not at liberty to use his o^vn remedy. The proof
that foxes do recover their health and strength
after losing all their hair or fur, is the fact of their
showing extraordinary sport with hounds ; indeed
some of the best runs on record are with mangy
foxes. One of the best the writer ever had with
his own hounds was from a patch of gorse on Ilsley
Downs. The fox went away almost in sight of the
hounds, and continued in sight of the men for
several miles over the do^\iis, a racing pace, and
was killed after forty minutes almost without a
check, when it was found he had scarcely a hair on
his body, and not one on his brush, or rather what
should have been his brush. This run will not be
forgotten by many Oxonians. The Avi'iter had seen
during the run that the fox was mangy, and when
in a wood, and getting near a large breeding earth,
he rode wide of the hounds, and got on the earth
just in time to prevent the fox going in, and in
consequence she was killed within fifty yards of it ;
and, although it was a vixen, it was not a source of
regret, though so late in the season that the earths
were opened. It would have been no mercy to
have saved her, for if she had lived to breed a htter

270 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

of cubs, every one of them would have been affected
with the mange, and they would have infected
others. To have mangy foxes in a country must
be considered a great nuisance, and one way of
reducing the chances of getting them is by destroy-
ing the earths, or, at all events, stopping them up
during the hunting season, according to the plan
hereafter described {vide Earth-stopping).

The usual or rather the greatest age of foxes in
general does not appear to be very well known.
But that they Uve to the age of ten or twelve years
the wi'iter has proved, by having hunted and killed
a fox with a short brush, which was called the
stump-tailed fox, and had been known and hunted
eight or nine years before he went into the country,
and which when killed had scarcely a tooth left,
indeed nothing but the stumps.

Foxes are thought to run stoutest about the
middle of the winter, — from the beginning of
December to the end of January. And from the
circumstance that the fur of all animals is most
valuable in the midst of winter, it is fair to suppose
that they are stronger and in better condition at
that time, consequently more fit for work. But
after that time, in the month of February, the dog
foxes are much easier killed than in any other

THE FOX 271

month, owing to their travels at night after the
vixens, which travels continue till the month of
March, when it is still no uncommon thing to find
two or three dog foxes in the same wood ; but though
such is the case with dog foxes, the vixens often
run very stoutly in February. Owing to the above
circumstance there is greater difficulty in finding
foxes during that month than any other, as they
congregate in the neighbourhood of some vixen,
near where a litter of foxes is usually bred ; and,
consequently, that is the only part likely to be a
tolerably sure find at this particular time of the
year.

It has been asserted in a sporting publication,
not long since, as well as on other occasions, that
if a fox when he is moved by hounds is not pressed
in the chase, he will only keep a certain distance
before the pack. According to that idea, it matters
not what pace the hounds go ; as the fox stops
when hounds come to a check. But this assertion
is not borne out by the facts, at all events only
occasionally, where a fox has been often disturbed
by the hare -hounds, or other dogs ; on which
occasions he will not go straight aw^ay, or keep on.
But that good wild foxes do not dwell in the way
asserted above, innumerable proofs can be given of

272 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

the following description. On one occasion a fox
was found by the hounds belonging to the ^vl'iter
in an outside cover which adjoined an open country
for ten or twelve miles, and after a ring or two was
killed in about an hour. A gentleman who came
late to cover, met a fox two miles off, going straight
across the open above described, of which he spoke ;
and, consequently, it was decided that the hounds
should meet there, in three weeks' time, with the
hope of finding this gallant fellow. The hounds met
and drew the same cover for him, and very soon
two foxes were on foot. After running hard in
cover for half an hour, the whipper-in, who was
placed where he could see if any fox took that open
country, rode up and said he was gone away. The
hounds were with difficulty stopped from the fox,
which remained in cover, and clapped on the flyer —
but with a coldish scent, owing to the start he got ;
nothwithstanding which, they went straight as
possible across the open for nearly twelve miles,
quite out of sight of any cover, or scarcely a fence
to hide a fox, and then came to a fatal check, owing
to a flock of sheep having gone along a road just
before the hounds, etc. When they were turned
towards home, a shepherd came up and said he saw
the same fox that day three weeks come over the

THE FOX 273

open downs — exactly the same line the hounds
came that day, and about the same hour ; and no
doubt this was the same fox which was seen that
day, which is sufficient to prove that good foxes
at all events do go on, whether hounds are after
them or not. And probably this may do away the
wonder and surprise that some men express, namely,
how strange it is that foxes can beat hounds which
are kept in such high condition, and in such con-
stant wind ; for there is Uttle doubt but that most
good foxes in a country which is hunted regularly,
move whenever they hear a pack of hounds in chase
run through or near the cover in which they he,
and go straight away in another direction. As such
is known to be the case now and then, of course it
oftener happens when it is not known ; for nothing
is more common than for a master of hounds, or a
man who hunts, to be told by some person the next
day, that he met or saw a fox several miles off,
going like a hunted one in an opposite direction to
where the hounds had run about the same time the
day before. But much of this depends on the sort
of covers in a country ; for a fox will lie much
longer and quieter in a furze or gorse cover than in
any other, for more reasons than one that the writer
can give. It is pretty sure that a hunted fox will

274 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

not pass through it, although he often does through
other sorts of covers, which do not impede him ;
consequently, a fox lying in a wood and hearing
hounds running through it, or near it, will be off:
therefore they have more exercise than many are
aware of. Independent of this, foxes get regularly
every night sufficient to keep them in wind ; and
some even in better than hounds, which are old
foxes that have been hunted, and are too cunning
to over-fill themselves with food, although it does
sometimes happen, probably by picking up a
wounded bird, or something just before they go to
their kennel for the day. But these are accidental
circumstances ; and when in such a state, foxes are
shortly killed, although the day before it would
have taken the same pack four hours to kill, even
if they did at all, and with a good scent ; for, as
before asserted, there are foxes which, when fit to
go, can beat any hounds ; and that these foxes are
not known, is to be accounted for by their stealing
away, and hounds not being on terms do not know
much about them as to their stoutness.

Many foxes are also often abused, and pro-
nounced great brutes, etc., and that the sooner they
are killed the better, in order that they may go
and find a good one, merely because the fox hangs

THE FOX 275

in cover, and runs rings in it for half an hour or
more. This is no proof of his being a bad one,
but often the reverse ; for by this time the ground
gets stained where the hounds have been over it
once or twice, and the pack do not continue to
press him as at first, and he gets time to hghten
himself; and then, being fit to go, he takes the
open country and rarely is beaten, but has given
those gentlemen's horses sufficient work for the
next week, who abused him in the morning.
Neither is it a proof of a fox being a bad one, his
going to ground shortly after being found. It is
the greatest proof of his sagacity, especially on a
good scenting day. This is acquired by age and
experience, which the following account with the
Avriter's hounds may prove. The meeting was near
a fashionable town, and it being the day after a gay
fancy ball in that part, a large field were present,
when to the dehght of all a fox was found, which,
after a ring or two in the adjoining covers with a
capital scent, went to a by -earth, to the great
annoyance of every one, more particularly of the
writer ; and no small share of rating got the earth-
stopper, who declared that he had put to, that is,
merely thrust some sticks into it, which was not a
regular earth. The hounds laid at it, and were bay-

276 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

ing, although there was only a possibiUty for a fox
to have drawn himself in, probably owing to their
hounds lying and scratching at the earth. But
thinking it possible the fox was not gone in, he
trotted off with the hounds to the farther end of
the small cover, when the hounds hit off the scent ;
and the fox having got a Uttle law, went down
wind nearly as straight as possible by the map
sixteen miles, when the hounds ran into him, just
after crossing a wide piece of water, which did the
business for him. So good a run was it, that one
or two of those who saw the finish will recollect
the following exclamation, when the fox was in
hand : " Now, I don't care if I never kill another
fox ! " — and yet this one would, it appeared, have
gone to ground in five minutes after being found,
if he could. The foregoing anecdote not only
proves that the best foxes do go to ground early,
but also that it is more than probable that many of
the best foxes generally lie under ground, when
there are large earths. The remedy for which will
be proposed hereafter (vide Earth -stopping). It
will probably be noticed that in the above run the
scent was good — which of course a fox must be
aware of, as he lives by hunting — and this was
probably the cause of his trying to go to ground.

THE FOX 277

There is little doubt that on many days when
hounds cannot find, and on which days the scent
has been proved to be capital, foxes are under
ground ; they are not afraid to stay above ground
in bad scenting weather, but take care to be out
of the way in good. And on those days, if a pack
of hounds come suddenly upon him — that is, to
draw the cover where he is lying, before he has an
opportunity to steal off — it will often be observed
that he will He till they almost tread on him, if
late in the day and no drag ; which is one proof
that the scent does not come from the body or
breath of the animal, but from the touch. And by
his lying quiet in his kennel, the scent does not
exude from under him, that is, from the ground
he lies upon, until he moves away, according to the
old song —

And Saucebox roars out in his kennel.

But the most convincing and satisfactory proof,
that the scent does come from the touch of the
animal is that, when the ground carries after a
frost, there is even a burning scent on turf and
sound hard ground, until the hounds get on a
fallow or ploughed ground, when they will feel the
scent for a few paces only, and it will entirely go

278 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSIMAN

until they are held across the ploughed field ; and
when they are again on turf or sound gi'ound, or
going through the fence, they will hit off the scent
immediately, as the foot is clean and touches the
ground ; which is accounted for by the foxes' feet
gathering earth as soon as they tread on the
ploughed ground, which on being pressed adheres
to the bottom of the feet (which is called carry-
ing) ; consequently, prevents the feet from touching
the gi'ound ; until this, which forms a clog and is
sticking to the feet, is worn off by a few steps
on the sound gi'ound, after leaving the ploughed
land.

Another proof that the scent by which the fox
is hunted by hounds does not come from the body,
but from the touch, is that when hounds are
running across an open country, downs, and such
like, in very windy weather, it cannot be supposed
even that the scent can remain stationary, but that
it would be scattered by the "vvind ; and that it
arises from the touch, that is, the pad of the fox
touching the ground. A person, to be more
thoroughly convinced of this, has only to take hold
of a fox's pad, or any other part when fresh killed,
and the scent will be retained for many hours.

It is thought by some that the reason why

THE FOX 279

foxes are not oftener killed late in the day, after a
hard and long run when it is nearly dark, that it is
o^ving to their strength recovering as their natural
time for exercise comes on ; but the more probable
cause for hounds not killing their fox oftener than
they do at this time is that, as night comes on in
the winter, the mnd gets much colder, and the
damp air, or rather the dew (which falls and does
not rise, as some suppose, on any flat surface — for
instance, the top of a gate will be covered with
water by the dew, when the under-side is perfectly
dry), depresses the scent, and prevents its expan-
sion ; consequently it becomes more difficult for
hounds to feel it sufficiently to press a fox so much
as they had done previously, although so much
closer to him. And unless they do press him, it
is almost impossible to say how much beaten he
is ; for it has happened often to the ^vi-iter, who
probably has enjoyed more of this midnight sort of
scenery than most men, that when he has been
determined to kill a fox, which from his running
short and amongst the hounds in cover for a long
time, it appeared that he was so beaten, that they
would kill in a few minutes, the fox has, after
dark, broke away, and taken an open country,
when it has been necessary to stop the hounds, as

280 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

it was impossible to see a fence. It should also be
recollected that when hounds have run a fox till
dark, they are not so fresh as in the morning,
therefore the difference of the scent tells doubly on
them ; but if scent does return after a hard run, it
is wonderful to see what courage and stoutness is
left in a pack which appeared beaten. And it is
one of the most rare events in hunting to see a
■whole pack quite beaten, although to casual ob-
servers they may appear so ; but it happens occa-
sionally, when they have this appearance after a
very hard run and a long check, and have given it
up, that the hunted fox has been moved, and it is
then seen that those same hounds will run clean
away from those very men who were probably re-
marking that the hounds were dead-beaten.

CHAPTER VIII

EARTH-STOPPING

HOSE countries

whicli abound with
fox - earths are very
hable to have blank
days, according to
the usual method of
management ; for
where there are
earths, foxes at times
will be in them when they are wanted elsewhere,
even when the earth-stoppers do their duty. But
the first question to put is, whether it is likely that
a man can be depended on to get up long before
daylight in the coldest and most dreary part of
winter to stop a cold earth, and leave the warmer
clay by his side ? It is all very well for men to say.
Yes ! and that they know they do their duty

THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

properly, for they have sent do^m to ascertain it.
Ascertain what ? that the earths were stopped
before it was hght. What matters that? How
long before light does a fox go to ground at this
time, when it is not hght much before eight o'clock,
this being three hours later than at other parts of
the season, and they are consequently more often
stopped after the fox has gone in than before ; — and
a very little ingenuity ^^^ll extort this fact from an
earth-stopper, that he has often found his stopping
removed by a fox scratching out when he has gone
to take it out himself next morning, which accounts
for many blank days. This ha^dng been the ^mter's
decided opinion from observation, ever since he has
been a fox-hunter (and few men began more early
in life), that immediately on his undertaking the
management of a pack of fox-hounds, he commenced
the folloAnng plan, to which he attributes the fact of
his not ha^-ing had more, upon an average, than
three blank days in any four years that he kept
hounds, although in the same countries from
ten to twenty had been encountered previously in
one year.

His plan was, in the beginning of October the
head whipper-in went round to every earth-stopper,
taking -svdth him each day some matches, prepared

EARTH-STOPPING 283

as described on page 260. Or gas-tar may be
rubbed against the sides of the earth ^vdthin.
Three days after this has been done, the same
whipper-in should go round to every earth-stopper
again, and see that he stops up every earth in
the following manner : first, make a fagot of sticks
the size of each hole, which should be thrust
in, then drive a stake through it ; after which,
\\\t\v a spade cover the whole over with earth.
It may not be necessary to state it, but the reason
why this last operation is not done at fii*st is that,
in consequence of the fox-earth being smoked by
brimstone, a fox may, if in, not come out the first
night ; but by waiting three days he will by that
time find his way out, and, consequently, the earth
may be stopped without fear of stopping him in.
After this is done, the earth-stoppers are to under-
stand that the earths are to be kept stopped during
the whole winter, until they have orders to open
them in the spring for the vixens to lay up their cubs
in — to be opened the last week in February. But
if at any time previously in the season a fox goes to
ground, half a crown will be deducted for every
time any hole is found open, — which will be a
sure remedy against going to ground. The earth-
stoppers' pay -will, of course, be under this new

284 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

regulation reduced according to their deserts ; but
they will be as well satisfied as before, because
they will have a regular salary, and very little to
do for it, instead of being expected to be out all
weathers when ordered, according to the old plan.
The pay of an earth-stopper, notwithstanding this
arrangement, can, at the master's option, be in-
creased if he produces a litter of cubs in the woods
which he looks over ; and if he has a sovereign for
every earth he has to stop and open in this way he
will be satisfied. Some have two or three earths or
more ; but it must be left to the judgment of the
master of the hounds. In the two countries hunted
by the writer, the men were all satisfied although
they did not get so much money ; which was paid
to them at an annual dinner in the centre of the
country — ^generally fixing on some old earth-stopper
to supply it, who keeps a public-house — at the rate
of two shillings for dinner, and one shilling for
drinking, each man.

The advantages gained by this plan are so
numerous, that it has always appeared most strange
that it has not been known to have ever been
adopted by any other master of hounds. But it
only requires to be made known, to become gener-
ally adopted ; and as good sport was the great

EARTH-STOPPING 285

object of the Avi'iter in fii'st doing it, he will have
no difficulty in proving that it is a certain way to
get better runs, because they are straighter, as the
foxes do not run the rings they used to do — in
trying every earth in the country where they are
found — as they have already discovered that they
are all blocked up, and therefore often go straight
away. But, according to the old plan of merely
stopping the earths in a certain quarter of the
country the day it is hunted, when a straight, good
run does happen, and the hounds deserve their fox,
he goes to ground beyond the distance stopped for
the day ; although probably, had he not been able
to get into the earth, he would have considerably
increased the day's sport by going on some miles
and being killed, which certainly is required to
make a good run perfect — and all go home satis-
fied. In the next place, it is the best preventive
against blank days ; for, as before stated, many
foxes nearly always he underground, in bad weather
particularly. Nothing is more common than when a
fox is dug out to find a brace, or even more ; and
if these are found in earths so weak as to be broken
up, how very much more likely is it that there are
foxes in the main earths ? Which accounts for every
cover in a part of a country being drawn blank a

286 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

few days only after snow, during which foxes were
padded about in all directions, and no doubt were
in the earths at the time the country was drawn
blank.

The disadvantages of having earths are so much
greater than the advantages, that if every earth in
the country Avas done away with it would be a
benefit to fox-hunting, even as respects the breed-
ing of foxes, for the vixens would breed above
ground in furze, or would find drains, which no one
knows of, etc. But every fox-earth in the country
is known to all poachers and fox -takers and
keepers ; consequently, every Htter of foxes bred in
them is known, and unless it is possible to have a
constant watch over them, they may be taken in
half an hour by various methods, none more fatal
than terriers, which are taught to bring the cubs
out alive in their mouths, or by digging pits at the
mouth of the earth into which the cubs di'op when
they attempt to come out, which they will do
shortly after they can see, in consequence of
hunger, if the old Aaxen is kept away, who, poor
thing ! is watching close by, but dares not come to
them, as one of these atrocious ruffians of fox-
takers is near, ready to take the cubs when they
fall into the pit. Added to which, the vixen often

EARTH-STOPPING 287

falls a victim to the keeper's gun at these main
earths, for many have been known to place them-
selves on a tree over the earth, or near it, and so
shoot the old vixen at the mouth of the earth ;
indeed, more keepers than one have been actually
caught watching in a tree, with their gun, for that
purpose.

But all this is avoided if the cubs are bred above
ground as no man then knows where they are, till
probably he has found them out by accident ; and
few men of this sort can prowl about in covers to
find them without being seen. And if it does
happen that they find them, probably they may be
too young to take ; and when they go again, in-
tending to take them, the old vixen will have
saved them the trouble, for if once a person visits
cubs which are bred above ground, the vixen never
fails to remove them. Also, when it is not known
where they are, the old one has a better chance of
escaping the traps, etc., which are so often found
set. On one occasion the ^vi-iter found no less
than eight iron traps at one earth where a fox had
gone in.

Independent of the above advantages of having
no earths, or of having them stopped in this way for
the season, there is not the same chance of having

288 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

mangy foxes, for one mangy fox may infect half
the earths in a country.

Another advantage of this plan is, that when
the earths are opened at the end of February,
although stopped till then, the vixen foxes will soon
find out that they are open, — indeed they have
been known to inhabit an earth which has been
stopped within a week after it was opened, although
it had been stopped the whole winter before ; but the
dog foxes not having the same motive for seeking
the earths, do not find it out so soon, and conse-
quently do not go to ground so readily as a vixen.
Therefore if at this time, in March, there are earths
open, it will probably be a dog fox which the
hounds are running ; and one of the greatest ad-
vantages of having earths at all, if not the only
one, is that it enables hounds to hunt later in the
season, as the vixens will generally go to ground.
But this does not make up for the disadvantages ;
and it would be much better to lose a few days'
hunting.

Having adopted this plan with the greatest
success and satisfaction to all parties, although the
intelligence at first to some gentlemen, when it was
proposed by the writer, created much alarm, on
his hunting a new country, with the dread that it

EARTH-STOPPING 289

would be the means of diiving all the foxes out of
the country, etc., which the fact of not having
a single blank day for a year or two erased
from their minds, it was no trifling addition to
this satisfaction, and to the proof that earths
are not absolutely necessary to have foxes in a
country, for the writer lately to have had the
opportunity of ascertaining that there are no
earths in the whole Bedfordshire country, and
yet foxes in abundance. It is very true, our fore-
fathers did not stop the earths in this way ; but
in former times foxes were not bought and
sold as they are now.

The only persons who really lose by this, are
the old earth-stoppers ; and they lose three things —
first, their consequence by it in some measure ;
next, a few half-crowns for stopping ; and thirdly,
they lose a great deal of unpleasant work, such as
getting up in the middle of the night, and going
out in the dark, in all weathers ; independent of
which, they lose a gi*eat deal of abuse for not having
done their duty.

u

CHAPTER IX

KEEPERS

^VTiere there is a will there is a way.

iili

HE sketch opposite is
intended to represent
a stoat being caught
in a trap, baited in
such a way that a fox
could take the bait
without being caught
by the leg, as ninety-
nine out of a hundred destroyed are caught — that
is, when these traps are covered over, and the bait
is on the ground under the trap. Independently of
this plan preserving the fox, it is the most successful
plan for all other vermin ; and if all friends to fox-
hunting were to insist on its being adopted, there
would not be many blank days.

There is an old saying, " Give a dog a bad name

KEEPERS 291

and hang him," which maxim is too often apphed
to gamekeepers ; for there are some who are really
friends to fox-hunting, and who have more pride in
showing foxes with their pheasants, that is, in the
same covers, than any others can have in showing
pheasants without them. Innumerable instances

can be proved that foxes and pheasants can be
had in abundance in the same covers, particularly
where there are rabbits. The writer has seen five
foxes cross a ride in a cover, and nearly as many
hundred pheasants. Indeed, let any person go to
Savernake Wood, belonging to the Marquis of
Ailesbury,^ or to Ashdown Park, which sivarnis

^ This magnificent demesne extends to upwards of 4000 acres. — Ed.

292 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

with pheasants, belonging to Lord Craven, and see
these covers drawn, by a pack of fox-hounds, and
he will be convinced of the above assertion, for in
the several years they were hunted by the ^vriter
they were never dra^vn blank ; and it may be
depended on, that the great objection which keepers
have to foxes is that they destroy so great a
number of rabbits, which are the keepers' per-
quisites, and consequently they are disposed to
destroy foxes. It is a difficult thing to know how
to act with them, but it is much the wisest plan to
treat them civilly, even if they are doubtful, until
proofs can be brought against them, that they do
destroy foxes against their master's will ; for there
are many keepers, most highly respectable men,
who have a right to expect to be treated civilly and
respectfully. And indeed, under any circumstance,
it is the height of folly to abuse them openly, as is
too often done ; it only exasperates, for they are
generally men not easily frightened, at least if they
are good for anything. The thing is, to prove that
they do destroy first, and then go to work in every
way, by applying to every friend and connection of
the master's, and have it represented properly ;
when, if he, and even the lady of the manor, are
inveterate against fox-hunting, she will, if it is

KEEPERS 293

properly represented, see how much more desirable
it is to have all the mansions and residences in the
country inhabited by families of a sociable disposi-
tion, in preference to their being vacant, which
would be the case if there were no fox-hounds to
induce men to reside in the country ; and that those
gentlemen who do preserve game monopohse so
great a portion of the land, that only a few can
enjoy shooting, but hundreds can enjoy hunting,
whose whole sport and inducement to reside in the
country is annihilated by this person's keeper kill-
ing foxes. Indeed, if there are ladies who do not
approve of fox-hunting, the ■\\Titer only requests
that they "v\'ill compare the private amusements of
some men who do not hunt ^\dth those who do ;
for men must have some amusement, and it ^\dll be
found, that the balance preponderates in favour of
the fox-hunter ; for instance, the folloA\ang sketch.
Shortly after breakfast, say nine o'clock, he leaves
home, probably with this last request from his wife,
" Do not forget to ask those several famihes to dine
with us such a day " ; which would not have been
thought of, but owing to this chance of meeting
them in the field, where he sees nearly all the best
society in the neighboiu-hood, and returns after
having had a good day's sport and plenty of

294 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

exercise, — if through wind and storms, he enjoys
his home so much the more. Dinner arrives, every-
thing is capital, he is in the highest spirits, and he
is happy with his wife and family. This is not
always the case with some only who do not hunt.
It is true they are also away all day, and return to
dinner, but looking pale and wretched, having no
appetite, and find fault with everything at table, —
probably not forgetting the table they have been
at during their absence. In short, men must be
employed ; and if they have no amusement in
the country, it is natural to suppose that they will
congregate, as abroad, in the metropohs, or a large
town.

Although the scent was good, the wiiter thinks
it right to whip off, for he has just discovered that
many may suppose he had changed his fox, but he
was only a little wide ; and, as skirting is not
approved of, he returns to the subject of the keeper,
by relating a fact which will prove how very difficult
it is to believe some of them. A gentleman who
kept a pack of fox-hounds in the west of England
(with whom the writer was on a visit just before
the following circumstance had occurred, and after-
wards) was desirous of preserving both game and
foxes, as he always had done, and had just engaged

KEEPERS 295

a new keeper, who came from a suspicious quarter,
and was therefore strictly ordered not to destroy a
fox. As he kept a pack of fox-hounds, his orders
were that the foxes should be more thought of
than the pheasants ; and the man promised most
faitlifully to obey this order, and take good care of
the foxes — which he did, as the sequel will show.
In a cover adjoining a park, two litters of foxes
were bred up ; and, during the autumn, the earths
were occasionally visited by the master, with whom
on one occasion was the ^vriter. It was late in
the autumn, and on a day after a wet night, when
it was expected that the cubs would be padded
near the earth, but nothing of the sort was per-
ceptible. This created suspicion that all was not
right, and the head-keeper was questioned closely.
He said they were moved to another earth, and sure
enough they were. The under-keeper was now
made acquainted with this suspicion, and was in-
structed, unknown to the head-keeper, to search
about the cover near where the cubs were bred.
He did so, and found two places where the earth
was fresh, and had evidently been lately moved.
On turning it up, he found two beautiful healthy
cubs buried, each with a leg broken, having been
caught in a trap, which he at night put into a

296 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

sack and brought to the gentleman, to whom he
related where he had found them, etc. The head-
keeper was sent for that night, and when he came
into the room — called the justice-room, this gentle-
man being a magistrate — he commenced by express-
ing his suspicion that some unfair play had been
going on with the foxes in the cover before
described. The reply was, " That if there had been
foul play, it was unknown to him ; for he would
not allow such a shameful thing on any account,
and that he had taken every care possible of them."
The gentleman then said, "I do not beUeve
you ; for I am sure you must have destroyed
them." His reply was, " What ! me, sir ! I'll take
my oath I have not kiUed them." — " Do you mean
that ? " said the gentleman. " Yes ! " said the man.
" Then take the book," holding out the usual Bible
for that purpose to try him. He took the book in
his hand, when the gentleman said, " Hold hard !
my friend " ; and rang the bell, when in walked
the footman with the two young foxes, as before
arranged. On seeing which, after a little confusion,
and being asked whether he had ever seen them
before, he said, "Well, then, I did do it, and I
could not help it ; for it would be unnatural in me
not to kill what I was brought up to do." A

KEEPERS 297

severe reprimand and dismissal was, of course, the
immediate result.

That a keeper should venture to kill a fox is bad
enough, certainly ; but that any other persons
should think fit to do so is scarcely credible, when
they know the loss it would be to the country if
fox-hunting was destroyed. The Avriter was once
with a very good man, and true fox-hunter, who
addressed a respectable-looking man who was giving
orders to some working-men on the road, in the
following words : " Well, master, I am very glad
to see you alive, which I did not expect after what
I heard." — " Bless you, sir, I am very well ; what
could you have heard else ? " — " Why, I heard that
your son had shot a fox ; and any man who would
shoot a fox would shoot his own father ! " In
justice to this gentleman, it is fair to add, that a
more liberal or kinder-hearted man does not live,
notwithstanding this speech.

It is often dangerous to leave a fox which is run
to ground, without making some arrangement so
that no tricks are played ; and the best plan is to
give some man half a crown who Uves near, and
can be depended on, or whatever may be thought
necessary, to go at night after dark to the earth,
and find out whether any traps are set at the mouth

298 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

of the earth. The -writer has on more occasions
than one had several traps brought to him, by the
person employed to go there, which were found set
at night, by keepers too who professed to be
friendly. It is a good plan, if you run to ground
and do not intend to dig, to move off with the
hounds before any person on foot knows it.

Having finished this long chase with running to
ground, the wiiter cries, — Whoop !

^M

CHAPTER X

STABLES AND KENNEL

HE following is a
description of the

iM new stables and

a — ; kennel for the

[=S^_ Quorndon hounds, now building

at Billesdon, Leicestershire, by

Lord Siiffield, according to the suggestion of the

writer, whose intention was to combine comfort and

convenience with economy : —

The Stable

contains standing for

41 horses.

24 stalls, 6 feet 2 inches by 18 feet deep, 12 feet

high.
13 boxes, 9 feet by 14 feet and 4 feet behind, 12

feet high.

300 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

4 stalls for hacks, and coach-house, 9 feet by 14

feet and 4 feet behind, 12 feet high.
Saddle-room 16 feet by 18 feet (the fire heats the

water in the cleaning-room).
Cleaning-room, 10 feet by 18 feet.
Forge, 10 feet by 18 feet.
Granary, 18 feet by 18 feet.
Store for hay, 18 feet by 18 feet.
Store for straw, 18 feet by 18 feet.
Also a covered ride 7 feet wide, inside the

quadrangle ; and in the centre a pit for manure

and drains.
Over the entrance is one bed-room for men ; a

clock and weather-cock above, etc.
Remarks. — The mangers in the stalls are in two
parts ; one half for corn, the other for hay.
Although the front of both is even, the part for
corn does not go back to the wall, by about 8 inches,
only 12 inches wide, and is 11 inches deep ; but the
part for hay does go back to the wall, and is 18
inches wide, and 18 deep ; at the bottom of which
is a narrow grating, to let through the seeds and
dust. In private stables it is best to have a drawer
below to catch the seeds, which would be valuable
for pastures, instead of filling gardens with grass,
etc., when carried there with the manure. The

STABLES AND KENNEL 301

saving of hay is the greatest advantage of this plan,
as a horse does not pull it down or tread on it as in
all other racks, after which he never eats it ; and
the hay saved in one year will repay the expense
of altering them to this plan. It is a more natural
position for the horse, besides the prevention of hay
and dust faUing on his head and mane, etc.

The wddth of the stables is 18 feet, of which the
boxes take about 14 feet, to allow a passage ; but
the entrance to each is made to open in the centre,
so as to go back to the wall, to throw the whole 18
feet into the box, when desirable if a horse is lame
or sick, or when thro\\^l out of condition after the
hunting season.

The covered ride is 7 feet wide ; sufficient for
two horses to be exercised under in wet or frosty
weather.

The Kennel

No. 1. Young hounds' lodging-room, 16 feet by 20
feet ; paved court, 18 feet by 20 feet ; also a
door opening into an enclosed grass-yard.

2. Hunting pack lodging-room, 16 feet by 20 feet ;

paved court, 18 feet by 26 feet.

3. Principal lodging -room, 16 feet by 20 feet ;

paved court, 30 feet by 34 feet.

302 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

4. Principal lodging- room, 16 feet by 20 feet ;

paved court, 30 feet by 34 feet.

5. Covered-court before feeding, 14 feet by 20 feet ;

at one end a cistern, to supply the kennel
with water ; at the other end a stair to the
feeder's sleeping-room above.

6. Feeding-room 16 feet by 19 feet.

7. Straw-court after feeding, 22 feet by 24 feet.

8. Hospital for sick hounds, to be near so as to

be fed often ; three lodging-rooms, two, 6 feet
by 6 feet, the other 12 feet by 12 feet, and
court, 20 feet by 12 feet.

9. BoiUng-house, 15 feet by 20 feet.

10. Cooler, 3 feet wide.

11. Coals, 6 feet by 10 feet.

12. Store-room for meal, 15 feet by 27 feet.

13. Straw-house, 15 feet by 21 feet.

14. Bitch-house, 6 by 15 ; court 9 feet by 15 feet.
Remarks. — All the doors, except those on the

outside of the kennel, are in two parts, which open
separately, which gives the opportunity of first
looking at the hounds, and of seeing that no hound
is injured on the feet by the door when opened
against it. And the feeder can see better which
hounds require to be fed first, on opening the top
door.

STABLES AND KENNEL 303

The granary for oatmeal is placed for conveni-
ence, and to be dry, being at the back of the
chimney to the boiUng-house.

The straw-court, after feeding, is so placed, in
order that the feeder may turn out every hound
separately, if desirable, until the whole have been
fed (this door should be in two, to enable him to
look them over, and see if any want to be fed
again), where they remain till he has time to walk
them into the adjoining field. This is a most
desirable acquisition to every kennel, as it keeps the
field cleaner ; and the droppings from the hounds
make the straw valuable to farmers, which is taken
from the lodging-rooms, and is otherwise useless.
It is these considerations which make a farmer
think it worth his while to supply straw for the
manure.

It is also desirable that the hospital for sick
hounds should be near the feeding-room, or they
are not attended to as they ought, but are kept
out of sight. Here the man has only to open the
top part of the door and look in, and if a hound is
in want, he has him in at once. This lodging-
room is divided into three parts in case of any
doubtful hound, which by putting aside, may pre-
vent madness to the whole pack if attended to.

304 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN

The door out of the young hounds' kennel into
the grass-yard is intended to be open all day long,
as it is most desirable that they should have room
to exercise themselves when first brought home
from their walks, before they are under command,
which, by constantly taking them to be fed, they
will soon come to. The time they are brought
home is generally during the season when the men
have not time to take them out, even if under com-
mand, which makes it so necessary for them to have
an enclosed grass-plat to run over; and often prevents
distemper going through the whole lot, as is often
the case when they are confined close together.

There are pipes to convey water to every kennel,
with a tap in each.

As before stated, economy in building these
kennels and stables has been attended to, which the
fact of the expense being less than half of a previous
plan, designed by a first-rate architect, will prove ;
but it is fair to add that the first would have been
a splendid building.

These kennels and stables are building at the
expense of Lord Suffield, who is doing the thing on
a liberal scale.

, Printed *>- R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, Edinburgh.

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