3 6o HUNTING PRELIMINARIES. 



posts and rails round every covert, so as to drain the ground, 

 and give the foxes a feeling of security in their abode. Sand 

 will of course be much drier than clay. 



The smaller a covert is, the less likely is it to hold foxes, 

 especially after Christmas. 



HUNTING THINGS. 



There are three forms of hunting coats usually worn. In 

 1865 or 1866, General, then Captain, Owen Williams, of the 

 Blues, introduced into modern use the swallow-tail coat, which 

 is similar in shape to the orthodox coat of evening wear. It 

 is, however, kept button :d in front, and shows a few inches of 

 the hunting waistcoat, which in all cases is particularly long, 

 for purposes of warmth. This coat looks smart, but offers no 

 protection to the legs in case of rain. It and the long-waisted 

 cutaway, which is thoroughly workmanlike, are held in equal 

 favour by Conservative Meltonians, who are apt to regard the 

 single breasted frock coat as provincial. The frock is increas- 

 ing in favour, at least among wearers of black ; probably 

 because it will generally keep the knees dry, during wet 

 weather ; supposing of course that it is long enough, as it 

 ought to be, to cover the knees. JMaturally, it cannot perform 

 this office, when its wearer is riding against a strong head 

 wind. 



Previous to the swallow-tail coat, the cutaway was the 

 orthodox pattern ; but in the early part of the nineteenth 

 century, " skimpy tails " were the fashion. " Snob " in Alken's 

 illustrations of the " Quarterly Review run," 1826, is depicted 

 in a frock on a bob-tailed horse. 



A black hunting coat, like a pink one, may be of the 

 cutaway, swallow tail, or frock pattern. 



The material (strong Melton) is the same for both pink and 

 black hunting coats. The cloth, to meet the exigencies of 

 weather and hedges, has to be so thick and hard, that no one 



