A MONMOUTHSHIRE FOX. 345 



coverts," fail to see also that he never has a straight- 

 necked one. For all the good Jones's foxes are to 

 hunting they might as well be bagmen. Jones him- 

 self very likely knows no better, and, as long as his 

 coverts hold foxes as well as pheasants, thinks his 

 keeper a capital manager. 



Even where things are not so bad as this, I am 

 inclined to think foxes are not improved by the know- 

 ledge which they must surely have of their impunity. 

 I try to recollect a fashionable country where foxes 

 really run, and can stand up to a fast pack forty-five 

 minutes really without a check, but I fail to recall one. 

 Even in Ireland, Meath is as bad as Hampshire, which 

 is saying a good deal. Kildare is better, probably 

 because of the great mountains which form her eastern 

 border, and the equally wild Bog of Allen to the 

 south-west. 



Personally, I am inclined to think such pseudo fox 

 preservation is worse than none. One can, to a 

 certain extent, respect the cynical brutality of the 

 shooting tenants on the Southampton Water edge of 

 the New Forest country. Not only do they forbid the 

 hounds to draw the coverts at all till their shooting is 

 over, but when they are drawn thoroughly (once or 

 twice during the spring) they never hold a fox. I have 

 personally assisted at the carrying out of this solemn 

 farce. At all events, the Master in this case knows 

 his foes. 



Let us leave such painful subjects and turn to those 

 countries where foxes are not only plentiful but wild 

 and vigorous. As far as I can recollect, I have seen 



