ATTENTION AFTER A WET NIGHT 201 



hills. 1 The same cover where you find one fox, when 

 it has remained quiet any time, will probably produce 

 another. 



It is to little purpose to draw hazel coppices at the 

 time when nuts are gathering ; furze-covers, or two or 

 three years coppices, are then the only quiet places 

 that a fox can kennel in : they also are disturbed when 

 pheasant-shooting begins, and older covers are more 

 likely. The season when foxes are most wild and 

 strong, is about Christmas : a huntsman then must 

 lose no time in drawing ; he must draw up the wind, 

 unless the cover be very large ; in which case it may 

 be better, perhaps, to cross it, giving the hounds a 

 side-wind, lest he should be obliged to turn down the 

 wind at last : in either case, let him draw as quietly as 

 he can. 



Young coppices, at this time of the year, are quite 

 bare : the most likely places are, four or five-years 

 coppices, and such as are furzy at bottom. 



It is easy to perceive, by the account you give of 

 your hounds, that they do not draw well ; your hunts- 

 man, therefore, must be particularly attentive to them 

 after a wet night. The best drawing hounds are shy 

 of searching a cover when it is wet : yours, if care be 

 not taken, will not go into it at all. Your huntsman 

 should ride into the likeliest part of the cover ; and, 

 as it is probable there will be no drag, the closer he 

 draws the better : he must not draw too much an end, 

 but should cross the cover backwards and forwards, 



1 This must of course vary in different countries : a huntsman who 

 has been used to a country, knows best where to find his game. 



