78 FOXHUNTING ON LAKELAND FELLS 



thing sometimes happens with the fell hounds, as 

 a rule, their fox is lying in some snug kennel at a 

 height of two thousand feet or more, and before 

 hounds can run him they must find him. To do 

 this they quest for the drag, or in other words, 

 they search for and pick up the line of a fox which 

 during the night has visited the dale, and then 

 before daybreak has returned to his mountain 

 fastness. If the fox has cut his return trip rather 

 fine, and hounds are out early, as they very often 

 are in spring, the drag may prove a warm one. 

 If it is cold and the fox long gone, it may require 

 a«lot of working out. 



Anyhow, the same end is eventually attained, 

 i.e. hounds gradually work up to the spot where 

 their fox is lying. It may be on the ledge of some 

 crag, or amongst the rocks strewn about the fell 

 breast. Wherever it is, Reynard may wait till 

 hounds are close to him, or he may steal away and, 

 if unseen, gain a long start. As a rule, however, 

 there are a few keen hunters scattered about the 

 fell tops before hounds leave the dale, and the fox 

 is lucky if he can slip away without the sharp eyes 

 of some shepherd spying his movements. A 

 series of shriU view-halloas soon bring hounds to 

 the spot, and the run begins in earnest. Although 

 such a halloa saves time when a fox has stolen 

 away, it is a much prettier sight to see hounds 

 find and unkennel their fox in a crag by them- 



