BejivVOir Hunt. 127 



cultivating maciiines — and you might ride 

 miles after hounds of an afternoon in the depth 

 of winter without danger of the fox being 

 headed, or meeting with a soul, save and except 

 a solitary workman engaged in cutting a hedge 

 or scouring a ditch, who, from the nature of 

 that employment was seldom visible till you 

 were close upon him. Indeed, it has been 

 related how a fox, pursued by hounds, rushed 

 suddenly through a fence, sprang upon the 

 ditcher's back and off again, taking him for the 

 stump of an old tree. Certain it is that cattle 

 will chase a draggled fox, and I remember 

 Lord Forester (then Master of the Belvoir 

 pack) calling attention, during a good run, to 

 some bullocks scampering along a hill side. 

 " That's were he's gone," quoth he — and surely 

 enough in a few minutes hounds were pushing 

 along the line which the boves had taken up 

 in wild confusion to the end of the field. Then 

 again, foxes frequently get headed in turnip 

 fields by persons engaged in clamping or 

 cutting for the flocks. These considerations 

 were not so much attended to until com- 

 paratively recent times ; and the fewer people 

 employed on the land, and the wilder it was^ 

 the better the sport of hunting and shooting. 



