IN THE SHIRES 



poor lying for foxes. Where heath or heather 

 grows naturally, or can be persuaded to grow, 

 it makes capital fox shelter. Foxes often lie 

 extremely close in it, and I have many times seen 

 a fox wait till hounds were almost on top of him. 



Foxes, like all other furred and feathered wild 

 things, appreciate sun and warmth. A covert 

 which faces south is therefore preferable to one 

 with a northerly aspect. Here and there, small 

 coverts are situated at no great distance from 

 larger ones, and it often happens that litters are 

 bred in the small places, but the latter do not hold 

 foxes in the hunting season. Attracted by the 

 food supply, or the better lying in the bigger 

 woods, the foxes migrate there. Foxes can of 

 course be restored to blank coverts by turning 

 them down in artificial earths, etc., but if genuine 

 wild sport is the object in view, it is a much better 

 plan to keep the coverts quiet and well fenced from 

 intruders, when the wild stock will resort to them 

 and increase in the natural way. 



Big woodlands are resorted to by foxes, because 

 they are less disturbed than the smaller coverts. 

 Woodland hunting affords comparatively little 

 scope for galloping and jumping, therefore the 

 average field looks with no kindly eye on the 

 prospect of a day in the big plantations. The 

 latter should however be regularly hunted, and 

 hunted hard, so as to force the foxes to leave and 

 seek sanctuary in more getatable localities. If 

 this is neglected, the woodlands will be crawling 

 with foxes, and many of the smaller and better 

 situated coverts will be drawn blank. 



The fox is of course a national asset, for be- 

 sides affording sport in the Shires and the pro- 

 vinces, he is the cause of an enormous distribution 

 of money throughout the hunting countries of 



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