FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



and grass grow well together, and make the best 

 of harbour for foxes, but the sticks should never 

 be chopped down and laid, as this plan leads to 

 quantities of rotten thorns lying about, which 

 are decidedly injurious to hounds' feet. Young 

 thorns should be topped, otherwise they will not 

 grow close. When first planted they take a long 

 time to grow, so that it pays to plant gorse as 

 well, which soon springs up into good covert. 

 Old thorns may be chopped down as they quickly 

 spring up again. In ordinary woodlands, where 

 the timber is grown for its beauty or for com- 

 mercial purposes, there are usually some snug 

 corners which appeal to foxes. Here again the 

 fences should be as thick and impenetrable as 

 possible, for the interior of the average plantation, 

 when once the boundary fence is passed, is much 

 easier of access than the inside of a thorn or gorse 

 covert. 



Furze coverts should be cut about every six 

 or seven years, otherwise they become hollow and 

 gradually die away. In some parts of the North 

 country, foxes lie in the thick juniper growth. 

 Juniper, or " savin " as it is locally known, makes 

 a close impenetrable covert, and on some hill 

 slopes there are large areas of it. 



Plantations of young larch, spruce, and fir, 

 make the best of fox coverts, for the grass grows 

 well, and the small, closely set trees keep out the 

 draught, and make the covert warm and at- 

 tractive. On one occasion I saw four foxes go- 

 away from a young larch wood of less than two 

 acres in extent. When larch and spruce begin 

 to reach maturity however, the undergrowth 

 dies away, killed by the pine needles and the 

 drip from the trees. Many larch woods are as 

 bare as a billiard table in the bottom, and afford 



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