HUMOUR IN THE CHASE 



Come here, ye old codgers, whose nerves are unstrung, 

 Come follow the hounds, and you'll hunt yourselves young. 

 Tally-ho ! Tally-ho ! 



Anot7., l8r/z Century. 



" Foxing " ^> ^> ^:> o 



IF foxes are not gifted with reason, they have 

 a cunning instinct which answers the same 

 purpose. They know at once the sounds which 

 herald the approach of the hunt, and a veteran will 

 often leave a covert when the cavalcade is two or 

 three miles away ; but he reasons that on previous 

 occasions when he heard those same sounds before, 

 he had a very narrow escape, and he therefore now 

 accepts the warning to flee in good time. I remem- 

 ber a certain day, one very dry cub-hunting season, 

 when there was neither scent in covert nor out, and 

 it was quite hopeless expecting to hunt a cub to 

 death. Hounds, however, marked a fox to ground 

 in an artificial earth, and this seemed an excellent 

 opportunity of getting blood, which it would be 

 impossible to attain by other means. The whips 

 were left in charge of the pack some distance away, 

 whilst the huntsman and myself set about the task 

 of eviction. I put the terrier in the earth, and 

 a few seconds later a beautiful fox was noosed by 

 the huntsman's whip, but as there was still another 

 inside, we decided to catch both and sacrifice the 

 worst. I therefore held the first fox whilst the 

 second was being captured. Before the second had 

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