THE FOX 129 



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 

 lie, 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 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 



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