ON DRAWING 111 



to be as exact to them as it is possible. On no account is he to be before the 

 time ; yet, on some occasions, it might be better, perhaps, for the diversion, 

 were he permitted to be after it. 1 The course that your huntsman intends to 

 take in drawing, ought also to be well understood before he leaves the kennel. 



If your huntsman, without inconveniency, can begin drawing at the 

 farthest cover down the wind, and so draw from cover to cover up the wind 

 till you find, let him do it. It will have many advantages attending it : 

 he will draw the same covers in half the time ; your people cannot fail of 

 being in their proper places ; you will have less difficulty in getting your 

 hounds off ; and, as the fox will most probably run the covers that have been 

 already drawn, you are less likely to change. 



If you have a string of small covers, and plenty of foxes in them, some 

 caution may be necessary, to prevent your hounds from disturbing them 

 all in one day. Never hunt your small covers till you have well rattled the 

 large ones first ; for, until the foxes be thinned and dispersed where they were 

 in plenty, it must be bad policy to drive others there to increase the number. 

 If you would thin your foxes, you must throw off at the same cover as long 

 as you can find a fox. If you come off with the first fox that breaks, you 

 do not disturb the cover, and may expect to find there again the next day ; 

 but where they are scarce, you should never draw the same cover two days 

 following. 



Judicious huntsmen will observe where foxes like best to lie. In chases 

 and forests, where you have a great tract of cover to draw, such observation 

 is necessary, or you will lose much time in finding. Generally speaking, I 

 think they are fondest of such as lie high, and are dry and thick at bottom ; 

 such also as lie out of the wind, and such as are on the sunny side of hills. 2 

 The same cover where you find one fox, when it has remained quiet any time, 

 will probably produce another. 



It is to little purpose to draw hazel coppices at the time when nuts 

 are gathering ; furze-covers, or two or three years coppices, are then the 

 only quiet places that a fox can kennel in : they also are disturbed when 

 pheasant-shooting begins, and older covers are more likely. The season 

 when foxes are most wild and strong, is about Christmas : a huntsman 

 then must lose no time in drawing ; he must draw up the wind, unless the 

 cover be very large ; in which case it may be better, perhaps, to cross it, 

 giving the hounds a side-wind, lest he should be obliged to turn down the 

 wind at last : in either case, let him draw as quietly as he can. 



Young coppices, at this time of the year, are quite bare : the most 

 likely places are, four or five-years coppices, and such as are furzy at bottom. 



It is easy to perceive, by the account you give of your hounds, that 



1 When there is a white frost, for instance ; at the going off of which the scent never lies. 



2 This must of course vary in different countries : a huntsman who has been used to a 

 country, knows best where to find his game. 



