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as wet is concerned than before draining. The hunts- 

 man might curse you if he should venture his horse 

 off the rides, but you would add considerably to the 

 comfort of foxes if you made trenches about ten yards 

 apart to carry off the water. The sides of trenches 

 should be sloped, or otherwise they will soon fall in and 

 be useless. All these small details add considerably 

 to the expense of making a covert, but like everything 

 else if a job has to be done it should be done properly 

 in the first instance, and foxes are always ready to 

 appreciate a dry lair. 



A fox may frequently be found in a swamp and people 

 think for that reason he likes a damp bed, but such is 

 not the case, and if the inquirer would take the trouble 

 to look, he would discover the kennel was a bunch 

 of rushes which afforded perfectly dry lying. 



The reason why swamps and other places surrounded 

 by water are selected is that they are usually free from 

 disturbance and the approach of man or dog is easily 

 detected. 



The whitethorn grows well and throws out many 

 fresh shoots when cut down, but does not produce 

 suckers from the roots like blackthorn. By itself 

 white -thorn is undesirable as in the winter you can 

 see from one end of a covert to the other. When, 

 however, planted alternately with privet, the com- 

 bination makes an almost impenetrable thicket after 

 once being cut. The thorn appears to hold up the 

 privet and as the latter retains its leaf in the winter, 

 there is ample screen from too curious eyes. When 

 thorn and privet reach to a height of about four feet 

 they can be cut and laid, but this is a very unfair pro- 

 cedure on hounds, as it is almost impossible for them 

 to get beneath the thorn layers, and it often means 



