THE WOODLAND PYTCHLEY 311 



the fact of being bounded by railways and by the 

 Welland, so that foxes rarely cross the Pytchley 

 border, and never Mr Fernie's.^ This throws them 

 back on great woodlands — Brampton, Carlton, and 

 Pipewell — the latter two almost contiguous. The 

 Kettering country is almost all woodland, Broughton, 

 Geddington, Grafton, Snapes, and Farming woods be- 

 ing only divided, as it were, by strips of grass. On 

 the Wellingborough side again there is less wood 

 and more plough ; and the Woodford country has of 

 late years afforded good sport. Lastly, we have a 

 piece on the Gretton side with little w^ood, but 

 shading oif through the Deene and Harringworth 

 woodlands to the great jungles of Laxton and Waker- 

 ley. Scattered throughout the middle of the country 

 comes the increasing nuisance of ironstone ^vorkings. 

 Certainly no man could wish a more difficult country 

 to hunt, and the killing of foxes can only really be 

 successfully done on the ''let 'em alone system"; 

 but as the rural population is both enthusiastic and 

 leather - lunged, hounds must be as indifferent to 

 shouting as the Llangibby to take no notice of the 

 frequent holloas. Indeed, I have often thought that 

 a pack of that sort might show more sport here than 

 the beautiful bitches they actually have. 



Things being so, it is not difficult to fix on the 

 Market Harborough country as that which shows 

 most sport ; and I find various days recorded which 

 were marked by stirring gallops, such as that on 

 which the bitches " screamed " a fox to death in 

 twenty minutes from Wilbarston New Covert, follow- 



^ Chapter xxiv, proves that they sometimes reverse this procedure ; and 

 as a matter of fact, these homids recently had a good run into Mr Fernie's 

 country. 



