276 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



making a big bag, and finds that hounds have dis- 

 turbed his coverts on the previous day. He and 

 his friends are disappointed, and hurl imprecations 

 against the M.F.H. Now a man does not arrange 

 a " shoot " at a moment's notice, so that the tenant 

 has only to send a post card to the M.F.H., stating 

 his intention to shoot on a certain date and request- 

 ing that his coverts should not be disturbed. It 

 must be remembered that the M.F.H. is not supposed 

 to know the tenant, and has done his duty when he 

 has asked the covert- owner if it will be convenient 

 for him for hounds to draw his coverts on a certain 

 date. The covert-owner, having no interest in the 

 shooting, promptly says "yes" without any regard 

 to his tenant's plans. Thus, through an inadvertency, 

 which could have been nullified by a post card, a 

 good day's shooting has been spoilt, and ill-feeling 

 bred between the shooting-tenant and the M.F.H., 

 which may result, and in many instances has resulted, 

 in the shooting-tenant forbidding hounds to enter his 

 coverts, and giving instructions to his keepers not to 

 preserve foxes. The etiquette, or, as I prefer to term 

 it, the sporting orthodoxy of the position is simple. 

 The M.F.H. consults the covert-owner in regard to 

 the convenience of drawing his coverts on a specified 

 day, and in the absence of definite information the 

 covert-owner should consult his shooting-tenant ; but 

 in order to prevent mistakes — and even the Post 

 Office is not infallible — it is the wisest plan for the 

 tenant to write to the M.F.H. In matters concerning 



