FOX COVERTS 75 



as a matter of course. For this purpose artificial gorse 

 coverts were formed, independently of coppices and 

 plantations, for the treble purpose of preserving game 

 and foxes, and of converting rough unfertile spots, 

 unfavourable to agriculture, into profit by growing 

 coppice wood and plantation timber. Whether the 

 prevalence of gorse coverts in some of the most 

 fashionable countries, especially in Leicestershire and 

 Northamptonshire, is conducive to sport of the highest 

 class, is rather questionable ; but it appears that the 

 public taste is better pleased with a fifteen or twenty 

 minutes' burst without a check, or any impediment to 

 call forth the talent of the huntsman or the exquisite 

 hunting faculties of the hounds, than with a longer run 

 of five-and-forty minutes* or an hour's duration. 



From the time of Mr. Meynell to the present, 

 Charnwood Forest has been the stronghold of the 

 vulpine family affecting Leicestershire, though I have 

 no doubt it is very materially changed from what it 

 was formerly. The Pytchley country, perhaps, may be 

 ranked first as possessing the most important wood- 

 lands in England, which includes Rockingham Forest, 

 where they frequently hunt till very late in the season ; 

 and my memory deceives me if I have not heard of 

 some master of hounds who actually hunted throughout 

 one summer. The principal woodlands in Warwickshire 

 are in the northern division of the country, situated 

 between Warwick and Coleshill, extending to Meriden. 

 With intervals of heavy-ploughed land they are 

 extensive and hold a good scent, and when regularly 

 hunted the foxes have been notorious for their stout- 

 ness ; but there have been several periods during 

 which no hounds have been kept ; and where that has 

 been the case, foxes are in general destroyed by un- 

 sportsmanlike means. 



Wychwood Forest, in the Heythrop country, is 

 very extensive ; it is in length about seven miles and 

 nearly four in breadth, intersected with numerous rides 

 and some roads. For the purpose of a nursery for foxes 



