EARTH STOPPING 33 



if he thinks fit to exercise the prerogative ; but these 

 powers, happily, are very seldom put into effect in 

 opposition to the conventional regulations by which 

 the rights of fox-hunting are guided. Controversies 

 have occasionally happened as to boundaries ; but they 

 are not of frequent occurrence, and they have generally 

 arisen respecting coverts which, being at a distance 

 from the kennels of one hunt, and nearer to those of 

 another, the owners of the coverts have thought fit to 

 decide the question. Whatever may be the expediency 

 of such arrangements, they certainly are at variance 

 with conventional custom, and can only be effected by 

 the intervention of the laws relative to trespass. In 

 conformity with the acknowledged usage, all the 

 coverts within a given district should be drawn only by 

 the hounds which hunt the country. 



The privilege of stopping the earths appertains solely 

 to the master of those hounds; he has no right to stop 

 any earths beyond his boundary without permission, 

 although sometimes mutual arrangements are made to 

 stop on the morning of hunting certain earths in the 

 borders of neighbouring hunts, when the hounds meet 

 at certain places. This is, a very desirable agreement, 

 because etiquette debars any master of hounds from 

 digging out a fox under any circumstances, unless 

 within his own boundary. There are some nice dis- 

 tinctions on this point which cannot be too scrupulously 

 observed. For example, although a fox must not be 

 dug out if he goes to ground in a neighbouring country, 

 if the earth be so shallow that he can be bolted or drawn 

 with a common hunting-whip it is lawful to do so ; but 

 the soil must not be disturbed with a spade or any 

 similar implement. A fox may be bolted by a terrier, 

 provided the terrier belongs to the master of the hounds 

 and is therefore with them ; but it is held inadmissible 

 to borrow a dog for the occasion. This is certainly a 

 very punctilious exaction, but it is one for which there 

 is a precedent, and the propriety of it has been 

 admitted. In the event of a fox going to ground in a 

 c 



