46 FOX HUNTING. 



February and later in the season, when you struck 

 an old dog fox, which you mostly did, as the bitch 

 foxes would rarely run at this season, your fox, 

 after a circle to get his bearings, straightened for 

 his own country, he having likely traveled ten, 

 fifteen or twenty miles for this visit. If it were a 

 good scent-laying day, then you had a hard ride, 

 straight away, with your hounds running with few 

 faults. If the wind was against the way the fox 

 had to take for his home, he was forced to run 

 out of his course and slanting to the wind, as an 

 old fox will not run in the teeth of the wind, if he 

 can avoid it, knowing well that it is not only 

 damaging to his running powers, but that it also 

 carries his scent to the following hounds, directing 

 them straight to him. This head wind will make 

 the fox change his course in long tacks, like the 

 sailing tacks of a vessel, and this is necessary to 

 prevent his being driven too far away from the 

 place v/here he has a safe rocky retreat, if he can 

 reach it. This is the time his greatest cunning 

 comes into play, for if he cannot outwit the hounds 

 and throw them off the scent and thus gain a rest, 

 he must find a safe harbor to bury himself in, or 

 be killed on the ground; but he will not hole if he 

 can avoid it until he reaches his home. This 

 makes a long, hard run for the hunter, and tries 

 the wind and staying qualities of his horse. A 



