136 HOUNDS MORE LIKE GREYHOUNDS. 



and other coverts have been planted within the last fifty 

 years, and it is much easier and more certain to find a fox 

 in covert. The rousing about he gets during cub-hunting 

 inclines him to make for the open, and though he may call 

 in at some other covert on his line, he will usually only 

 take temporary shelter, and go on again. Moreover, by 

 delaying the draw towards mid-day, the iox has had time to 

 digest his midnight repast, and therefore is in a more fit 

 condition to travel. 



But it is not only the hours and customs of hunting that 

 have undergone a change, the inclination to race has 

 gradually evolved a different class of horse and type of 

 hound. 



With the introduction of more racing blood, hunters, as 

 the veteran Mr. l^ailby remarked to the writer a few weeks 

 ago, have become more like steeple-chasers ; hounds are 

 bred more like greyhounds, and are inclined to ' gallop ' 

 rather than ' hunt ' by scent. The desire for pace has 

 relegated the old fashioned short-legged, thick set class of 

 hunter to the walls of the painter's gallery. The horse 

 now, and for some years past, most appreciated in the 

 Shires, being the one that could give a good account of 

 himself over the course at Aintree, and big enough to make 

 even Leicestershire fences look small ! 



