CHAPTER II 



THE FELL FOX 



" Who — whoop ! they have him, they're round him ; 

 They worry and tear when he's down ; 

 'Twas a stout hUl fox when they found him. 

 Now 'tis a hundred tatters of brown." 



In John Peel's time the fell country fox was a 

 distmct variety. Long in the leg, with a grizzle- 

 grey jacket covering a wiry frame, the appellation 

 " greyhound " fitted him exactly. As such he 

 was then known, and the extraordinary long runs 

 which he often provided fully upheld his reputa- 

 tion as a traveller. In habits, too, he was different 

 from the present-day representatives of the vulpine 

 race. Wild and shy, he avoided the haunts of 

 men, and was seldom found lying up anywhere 

 near human habitations. He and his kind were 

 few in number, compared with the ample stock 

 to-day, and in consequence each individual fox 

 travelled a wider beat, and knew more country. 

 It, therefore, naturally followed that hounds often 

 ran fast and far when piloted by one of these old- 

 fashioned " greyhound " customers. 



