452 THE IMPROVED ART OY FARRIERY. 



probable they will forsake the place, wander away, 

 and die for want of food. When the cubs leave the 

 earth, (which they may soon do,) the gamekeeper 

 should throw food for them in parts of the cover where 

 it may be most easy for them to find it ; and when he 

 knows their haunts, he should continue to feed them 

 there. Nothing destroys so much the breed of foxes 

 as buying them to turn out, unless care be taken of 

 them afterwards. 



" Hence the necessity of encouraging furze covers ; 

 they are certain places to find in ; and they have this 

 advantage, that the foxes cannot break from them un- 

 seen, and they are not so liable to change as in other 

 covers. 



" In digging a fox, you should keep room enough, 

 and care should be taken not to throw the earth where 

 it must be moved again. In following the hole, the 

 surest way not to lose it is to keep below it. When 

 the hounds are in want of blood, stop all the holes, 

 lest the fox should bolt out unseen. It causes no 

 small confusion when this happens. The old hounds 

 are dispersed about, and asleep in different places ; the 

 horses are often at a considerable distance ; and many a 

 fox, by taking advantage of this favourable moment, 

 has saved his life. 



" If hounds are in want of blood, and they have had 

 a long run, it is the best way, without doubt, to kill 

 the fox upon the earth ; but if they have not run long, 

 if the fox be easy to be digged, and the cover such a 

 one as they are not likely to change in, it does the 

 hounds more good to turn him out upon the earth and 

 let them work for him. It is the blood that will do 

 them most good, and may be serviceable to the hounds 

 and to the horses. Digging a fox is cold work, and 

 may require a gallop afterwards. 



