26 THE ESSEX FOXHOUNDS. 



and even now it is said that in some of the big woods a 

 vixen will litter down in the stump of a tree, though they 

 seem to prefer an earth in a bank if possible. The 

 fact that the foxes were bred above ground was said 

 to increase their stoutness. Colonel Cook says of them : 

 " I believe there never was an instance of an old wild 

 Roothing fox having been killed with a hunting scent ; 

 if you do not go away close at him at the very best pace, 

 he never will be caught, and if you come to a check 

 with a hunting scent, it is twenty to one he beats you. 

 One thing ought always to be attended to, which is, when 

 your fox is gone, to be as quick in getting your hounds 

 after him as possible." 



The Saturday country includes a large area outside the 

 Roothing district. Directly north of the Roothings are the 

 Canfields, where the chief coverts are Canfield Thrift and 

 Canfield Hart, both of these coverts belonging to Sir 

 Spencer Maryon Wilson. A prominent landmark of the 

 district is Canfield Mount, the site of an ancient Castle, 

 where many a fox has taken refuge from hounds. East of 

 the Mount, on the far side of High Roding Street, and 

 usually drawn from that fixture, is the extensive covert of 

 Garnetts, the property of Sir Brydges Henniker. South- 

 eastward from Garnetts we come to the site of the once 

 famous covert of " Old Park," which Colonel John Cook 



