2 FOXHUNTING ON LAKELAND FELLS 



ing of fell foxhunting been asked the question, 

 " How do you manage to get about and keep in 

 touch with hounds on those awful hills ? " The 

 answer is simple, " On foot." Except in some 

 portions of the low ground, riding to hounds is 

 impossible, so the man who would see something 

 of the work of the mountain hounds must be 

 prepared to face the hills on Shanks' s pony. 



Rising from the dales at an angle of from 

 45 to 70 degrees, or even steeper, the fells tower 

 skyward to a height of 2000 feet and over. On 

 the lower slopes large intakes, rock-strewn and 

 often studded with scattered thorn trees, divide 

 the dales from the fells proper. Above these 

 intakes the ground rises abruptly, and one reaches 

 a country of rocks and crags, deep ghylls and 

 watercourses, with scree-beds strewn broadcast 

 beneath the taller cliffs. The latter are seamed 

 and intersected with ledges, known in local parlance 

 as " Benks," on which is often found a luxurious 

 growth of heather or bleaberry scrub. It is on 

 these snug weU-sheltered ledges that the hill fox 

 loves to make his kennel. Protected from the 

 wind, with a wide view of aU the ground below 

 him, Reynard curls up where the sun strikes his 

 couch, and sleeps away the dayhght hours. 



Here and there on the lower slopes are larch 

 plantations, and straggling coverts of oak and 

 hazel. In these woods foxes He up, though the 



