156 THE HUNTED FOX AND HIS WILES 



that the majority of the pack know most of the 

 game a little better than any of us. When, after 

 the "forty bright minutes," or steady hunting run, 

 we near the well-known surroundings of some 

 favourite covert, is it to be supposed that hounds 

 do not know where they are as well as the most 

 determined thruster who follows them so closely, or 

 the steady " pointsman " who has come best pace by 

 gaps and bridle-roads ? 



In the country from which I write, most of our 

 coverts are gorse, and some are commanded by 

 eminences from which the work in covert can be 

 witnessed ; and I have noted how, when hounds enter 

 in pursuit of a fox, many of them will not content 

 themselves with smeusing after him through the 

 thick furze in a long-drawn string, but make straight 

 for the good bit of lying where they usually rouse 

 a fox. Up jumps the fresh fellow, and, with a verit- 

 able shriek of delight, the hound plunges after him ; 

 the gorse is alive now with excited hounds, and, 

 scared out of his life, the fresh fox flies at once, 

 maybe without being viewed ; perhaps just a glimpse 

 has been caught of him, or perchance a whipper-in 

 has got round and catches a steady full view of him 

 crossing the middle of the field, and, in the latter 

 case, there should be no doubt as to whether he is 

 the run fox or not. 



No, although we have been told, or have read, 

 how to distinguish a fresh fox from a hunted one, I 

 make bold to say that it is not always a very easy 

 matter. 



The draggled, mud-stained object that enters a 



