200 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



so draw from cover to cover up the wind till you 

 find, let him do it. It will have many advantages 

 attending it : he will draw the same covers in half the 

 time ; your people cannot fail of being in their proper 

 places ; you will have less difficulty in getting your 

 hounds off; and, as the fox will most probably run the 

 covers that have been already drawn, you are less 

 likely to change. 



If you have a string of small covers, and plenty of 

 foxes in them, some caution may be necessary, to 

 prevent your hounds from disturbing them all in one 

 day. Never hunt your small covers till you have well 

 rattled the large ones first ; for, until the foxes be 

 thinned and dispersed where they were in plenty, it 

 must be bad policy to drive others there to increase 

 the number. If you would thin your foxes, you must 

 throw off at the same cover as long as you can find a 

 fox. If you come off with the first fox that breaks, 

 you do not disturb the cover, and may expect to find 

 there again the next day ; but where they are scarce, 

 you should never draw the same cover two days 

 following - . 1 



Judicious huntsmen will observe where foxes like 

 best to lie. In chases and forests, where you have a 

 great tract of cover to draw, such observation is neces- 

 sary, or you will lose much time in finding. Generally 

 speaking, I think they are fondest of such as lie high, 

 and are dry and thick at bottom ; such also as lie out 

 of the wind, and such as are on the sunny side of 



[ l To find a good fox in a small covert it should have at least three 

 weeks' rest.] 



