THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 17 J' 



liounds, there is no doubt of having run to ground, and 

 you have decided upon digging, the sooner operations 

 are commenced the better ; if you want blood, your 

 hounds are entitled to him. If you think the earth too 

 strong, it is best to move off at once, as recommended 

 by Mr. Smith, leaving some one in pay to watch him out ; 

 as is, I believe, invariably the custom. When he has 

 been viewed safely out, it is desirable to do away, if pos- 

 sible, with such a retreat : foxes seldom betake them- 

 selves to one with which they were previously unac- 

 quainted. It is astonishing how exactly generations 

 will tread in the steps of their forefathers. A receptacle 

 of this kind, which has baulked you once, will as surely 

 prove a future source of annoyance. This, with the 

 exception of main earths, which may occasionally be 

 neglected, can generally be provided for. We have 

 in the vale of Hexton, and Shilhngton, many very 

 large drains in the chalky lands, extending the 

 whole length of the field, for the purpose of carrying 

 ojBf the torrents from the hills, which otherwise might 

 alluviate the soil. Mr. Smith, in his glossary, calls 

 a drain " Under ground, where foxes often run to." 

 The word has much the same acceptation in our 

 country ; and a terrible nuisance it has occasionally 

 proved, marring the promise of the finest runs, shortly 

 after a fox has betaken himself to the bottoms. It is 

 next to impossible to dig out, unless a corps of sappers 

 and miners were on the spot to excavate the land from 

 one extremity to the other. These drains should each 



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