160 THE HUNTED FOX AND HIS WILES 



different opinion, and confidently gives it to the world. 

 A friend of my own, however, confides that he gets so 

 excited when he sees a fox that he never seems able to 

 notice any peculiarities, though I would suggest to the 

 tyro that it is well if you have a chance to notice if the 

 fox he views away from covert at the beginning of 

 the run carries a white tag to his brush, and whether 

 that tag be large or small, whether he wears a white 

 waistcoat and collar or is dark all over his chest. 

 These are points which he may be able to distinguish 

 fifty minutes later in the ride of a distant covert, 

 or when Reynard lies stark and stiff upon the 

 sward. 



When he lies stark and stiff ! As I pen the words the 

 inappropriate air of certainty they appear to convey 

 presents itself to me, and occasions when our fox has 

 beaten hounds rise to memory. Perhaps we are a little 

 too prone to attribute these failures to kill rather to 

 bad luck on the part of pursuers than to the exceeding 

 cleverness of pursued. 



Three or four years ago I used frequently to stay for 

 certain fixtures with a well-known M.F.H., who was 

 beyond all question a very clever huntsman, though 

 I think that few gave him credit for the intense 

 interest he took in the fate of the fox he had been 

 hunting. As a matter of fact, if his hounds and he 

 failed to account for their quarry, though he might 

 appear to make light of the matter he did not in 

 reality, for he would brood over his defeat in the 

 evening, and with pencil, paper, and the ordnance 

 map would strive to elucidate the mystery, often 

 returning next day to make further investigations at 



