CHAPTER IV 



HOW TO PRESERVE FOXES 



NOTHING is easier than to preserve foxes if we really 

 wish to do so. All the fox needs is to be let alone. 

 The covert should be kept as quiet as possible, and 

 neither dogs nor men be allowed to disturb it. The 

 best way to keep dogs out is to make the fences thick 

 and thorny and the undergrowth close and impene- 

 trable. The fox will creep about and make or find 

 his own tracks and smeuses where a dog will be 

 daunted by the thorns and briars. These coverts 

 are of course equally impenetrable by man. Such 

 thorn-coverts are Norton Gorse and Sheepthorns, 

 both in Mr. Fernie's country. All coverts should 

 be looked after most carefully, and the fences kept 

 in order. Three or four small coverts, each not 

 more than three acres in extent, will suffice, if 

 properly tended, to keep hounds employed for one 

 day in each fortnight. Foxes will be nearly always 

 forthcoming from them. A favourite spot in a 



