190 ON ARTIFICIAL FOX-EARTHS 



ing terriers is the inhabitant of^such an earth, for the 

 lithe, supple fox, by running through the cross-passage, 

 can make a proper fool of a dog without bolting into 

 the open air, or perchance into the sack placed in 

 readiness by other foes awaiting him outside. 



I have seen earths of other design, some shaped after 

 the manner of the letter L or T; but if there is no 

 natural hole to be adapted and improved upon, and 

 all the work has to be done by man, I think the 

 A pattern will be found very simple of construction 

 and most secure. 



Where natural burrows are regularly used by foxes 

 as breeding earths, it may be found necessary to face 

 the entrance with stone and reduce the size of the 

 aperture, for it ^is obviously important to make it 

 impossible for a dog of large size to draw the earth. 



The situation of the earth in the old covert was, 

 of course, selected by our chief, whose advice was 

 " not to have an earth placed far from a ride, so 

 that the rest of the covert should be disturbed as 

 little as possible when the earths were being stopped 

 at night." This, I am sure, is correct, and the hint is 

 worth remembering, for no little detail should be 

 neglected by the owner who wishes to have his 

 covert described as "a certain find." 



Although I fear no other gorse will ever be quite 

 so dear to me as that old covert, which, distant but 

 three hundred yards from my front door, shone a 

 veritable "Field of the Cloth of Gold" in May. Yet 

 it is by no means my ideal fox covert. The dead 

 level of the situation, the close-trimmed thorn hedge 

 and post-and-wire fence which surrounded three sides 



