Hunting Lore 285 



The runs of course varied greatly in length; on 

 one day he "found a bitch fox at Piney Branch and 

 killed it in an hour"; on another he "killed a Dog 

 fox after having him on foot three hours & hard 

 running an hour and a qr." ; and on yet another he 

 "catched a fox with a bobd Tail & cut ears after 7 

 hours chase in which most of the Dogs were worst- 

 ed." Sometimes he caught his fox in thirty-five 

 minutes, and again he might run it nearly the whole 

 day in vain; the average run seems to have been 

 from an hour and a half to three hours. Sometimes 

 the entry records merely the barren fact of the run ; 

 at others a few particulars are given, with home- 

 spun, telling directness, as : "Went a hunting with 

 Jacky Custis and catched a Bitch Fox after three 

 hours chase founded it on ye. ck. by I. Soals"; 

 or "went a Fox hunting with Lund Washington 

 took the drag of a fox by Isaac Gates & carrd. it 

 tolerably well to the old Glebe then touched now 

 and then upon a cold scent till we came into Col. 

 Fairfaxes Neck where we found about half after 

 three upon the Hills just above Accotinck Creek 

 after running till quite Dark took off the dogs and 

 came home." 



The foxes were doubtless mostly of the gray kind, 

 and besides going to holes they treed readily. In 

 January, 1770, he was out seven days, killing four 

 foxes; and two of the entries in the journal relate 



