FOX-HUNTING IN MAY 



CHAPTER XXVI 



AT one time with many packs the killing 

 of a May fox formed a fitting wind-up to 

 the season. Nowadays, however, hunting 

 comes to an end much earlier, particularly during 

 a forward spring, the late sport being confined 

 to a few packs in Wales, the West Country, and 

 the North. 



In a wild, provincial country it is nearly always 

 possible to arrange for a few meets in May, and 

 in some districts it is compulsory to do so, in order 

 to account for lamb-worrying foxes. Farmers 

 are long-suffering and willing to overlook minor 

 depredations, but when a fox or foxes take to 

 killing lambs the hounds are in immediate re- 

 quest. While late spring hunting entails early 

 rising, which may not sound attractive to folk 

 accustomed to eleven o'clock meets, it pays to be 

 at the scene of operations before the sun has had 

 time to dispel the dew. This is particularly 

 applicable where hounds hunt the drag, and work 

 up to their fox before unkennelling him. This 

 style of hunting is still necessarily practised on 

 the Lakeland fells, where the foxes usually lie 

 at a high elevation. To the lover of the out o' 

 doors, the early hours of a spring morning are the 

 best of the day. Everything seems clean and 

 fresh then, from the dewdrops sparkling on the 

 grass to the scent of the earth and the clear blue 

 of the sky above. 



268 



