HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS. 57 



In one thing I quite agree, he has picked out 

 the cream of the country.] In this extensive 

 tract all the coverts are small and the fields big, 

 so that there is ample room to get away and httle 

 chance of being left behind in the intricate sides 

 of a dense wood. The foxes are wild, and 

 straight of neck, too, owing to their habits of 

 nocturnal wandering about the marshes from 

 distant haunts. Long runs at a good pace are 

 therefore the rule, and the land generally holds 

 such a capital scent that hounds do not often 

 dwell on the line. Such a country as this one 

 would of course select in preference to the 

 woodland tract if he wished to see hounds and 

 horsemen at their best ; but a wanderer among 

 many hunts cannot always select his ground, 

 especially at a time of year when a break 

 between periods of frost has to be made the 

 most of. 



The fixture was at Billericay — not by any 

 means the best, and certainly not the worst, 

 trysting-place the Essex Union have. The 

 hard frost of two or three preceding days had 

 given place to rain, and there was so Httle 

 promise of pleasant weather that a small gather- 

 ing might well have been anticipated. " A 

 favourite " meet. 



February 20th, 1885. Saturday. Latchingdon. 



Fine day, easterly wind, looked very much 

 like snow early in the morning. Found in the 

 gorse at Asheldham, and ran to ground after a 

 quiet twelve minutes. Went back and found 



