62 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



somewhat distressed, the hounds killed him in the act 

 of descending from a wall. It was an old fox of a very 

 light colour, and I have little doubt he had performed 

 the same trick, though more successfully, on other oc- 

 casions. 



I have heard an anecdote of a fox, one without a 

 ' brush,' that was many times found by the late Duke 

 of Beaufort's hounds when they hunted the Heythrop 

 country. His haunt was generally near the sajne spot, 

 and when hunted he always took the same line of 

 country, and by some stratagem escaped ; but his 

 device was never discovered. At length, however, he 

 was killed, probably from being disappointed in ac- 

 complishing his trick. 



An event was related to me of a somewhat curious 

 kennel which a brace of foxes had adopted in the 

 Badminton country. On the 3rd of January 1853 the 

 Duke of Beaufort's hounds met at the Lower Woods 

 and found a fox in the Withey Moor, which they lost 

 at Kilcot. It was reported that a fox had been 

 frequently seen in the open field near Little Badminton, 

 and that he had his kennel in a stubble rick placed 

 against a wall, to which spot the hounds were taken ; 

 but they were unable to dislodge him, or in fact to 

 decide that he was ' at home,' and went away to draw 

 another covert. A countryman who was present per- 

 severed, and having pulled down a portion of the wall, 

 with the assistance of a dog bolted a brace of foxes. 

 The hounds being brought back and laid on the scent 

 of one of them ran him through Swangrove to Sop- 

 worth, from thence to Sherston and Foxley, where they 

 killed him. It may be remarked, that the weather had 

 been unusually wet, and in many places in the vales the 

 foxes had no dry lodgings to resort to ; therefore their 

 taking to the hills and selecting a spot where they could 

 lie secure from floods was by no means an unac- 

 countable proceeding. The companion fox, which was 

 not hunted on this occasion, continued to use the same 

 place of seclusion. On the 20th of the same month the 



