ON ARTIFICIAL FOX-EARTHS 195 



while I perceive afar, projecting from every cave's mouth, the red and 

 green end of a fir-faggot. Ah, Reineke ! fallen is thy conceit, and fallen 

 thy tail therewith. Man has been beforehand with thee, and the earths 

 are stopped 1 " 



Besides the artificial fox-earths in the coverts, I have 

 seen several earths of olden days in County Kilkenny, 

 which were made by the famous Sir John Power when 

 he hunted that country. These he called " decoy 

 earths." They were placed away in the open country 

 to induce foxes to run over a particular line to seek 

 their refuge, and several of them had the reputation 

 of being very successfully planned. These earths, I' 

 believe, were left unstopped in the very early part of 

 each season, and some remain altogether unstopped ; 

 but " on the day of the hunt " Sir John would station 

 an emissary to keep " sentry-go " over these earths 

 and head the fox from them. There was an amusing 

 story told of a lad who sat on the bank with his legs 

 dangling over the mouth of such an earth and fell 

 asleep, to be rudely awakened by the leading hounds 

 worrying at his calves, for the hard-pressed fox had 

 slipped in between them. 



Some who are now hunting in Kilkenny may re- 

 member the finish of a run on the Coppenagh Hills, 

 when the fox went to ground in what appeared to 

 be a drain. Spade and pick were called for and 

 mining began, but an old countryman standing by 

 advised them to desist, saying it was "an old earth 

 made by Sir John lined with brick and covered with 

 slate, and I dunno what all," and that they would be 

 a week in digging him out. Drain-pipes have been 

 used in England for the same purpose, but I have not 



