8o FOX-HUNTING 



be done is to ensure the place being kept per- 

 fectly quiet, and that means a vigorous exclusion 

 of dogs. A dog should not be allowed in a 

 covert on any pretence whatever, and if the 

 keeper possesses one he should leave it at home 

 when he goes to stop the earths. A fox likes 

 to lie in a place where he feels he can sleep 

 peacefully, without having to be continually on 

 the alert for the approach of prowling dogs. It 

 is the doggy smell which hounds leave in a 

 covert^ that prevents foxes lying in it for some 

 time. The young foxes bred in that covert, and 

 knowing no other home, are not quite so par- 

 ticular and will soon return. If, however, you 

 wish to find the wary old traveller, your covert 

 must have at least three weeks' rest before it 

 is drawn again. This does not apply to large 

 woodlands, but only to small places of twelve 

 acres and less. 



You must not expect to find foxes always in 

 the same spot. Gorse affords the driest lying, 

 and therefore it is the most likely stuff to find 

 in on a wet day ; but when exposed to a high 



1 It clings to the covert as the smell of the ferret to the rabbit's 

 burrow, and has the same deterrent effect on the wild creature. — Eds. 



