IN THE SHIRES 



keepers endeavour to control them, and this has 

 led to the destruction of the older vixens, and the 

 hand-rearing of cubs, often in extremely un- 

 satisfactory surroundings. The more foxes are 

 pampered and interfered with, the quicker they 

 lose stamina, and the less need there is for them 

 to go far in search of food. Consequently they 

 know little country, and it is useless to expect 

 them to show sport in the true sense of the term. 

 So long however as fashionable fields demand 

 quick finds, short bursts, and plenty of galloping 

 and jumping, the stock of foxes must be there to 

 provide them, and people only have themselves 

 to blame if they prefer such tactics to the more 

 genuine form of hunting with fewer but better 

 foxes. 



In the Midlands the fox is accustomed to live 

 in more or less close proximity to human habita- 

 tions, and when being hunted he often has to face 

 large crowds, not to mention motors on the roads. 

 Owing to this state of affairs he has become more 

 or less brazen, and is more difficult to head than 

 his wilder and heavier relations of the mountains. 

 Like other wild creatures he adapts himself to 

 his surroundings, and thinks nothing ot making 

 his way past a crowd of halloing foot people rather 

 than be baulked of his point. He has too 

 every opportunity of shifting his responsibility 

 on to other foxes, and thus often escapes pursuit 

 thanks to the fact that there is a plentiful stock 

 of his relations in the neighbourhood. 



In a fashionable country, despite a keen hunts- 

 man and the modern quick method of handling 

 hounds, a hunted fox stands a better chance of 

 escape than he would in a more provincial district. 

 Hounds are very apt to be overridden by a modern 

 field, and thus checks occur that are all to the 



69 



