238 A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



account when it did come. At all events the system worked 

 well with him. A slack hound was never seen in his pack, which, 

 before the regular season opened, would drive a fox from end 

 to end of the vast coverts, and seldom leave that line for a 

 fresh scent. Perhaps he had secret methods too deep for 

 casual observers to fathom. The sort of sport, however, that 

 most men can appreciate without professed study of scientific 

 woodcraft is to be found in countries where coverts are com- 

 paratively small, and separated by open tracts not too formidably 

 fenced. These need not be all pleasant pastures, as in the 

 fashionable shires. A due proportion of freshly-turned fallow 

 or dry stubble gives hounds a chance of showing their hunting 

 powers, and prevents them from rolling the cubs over too soon. 

 There, however, the sport must be deferred until nearly every 

 acre of corn has been cut, and by that time the cubs are strong 

 enough to take care of themselves, though the chances are 

 that by being left so long undisturbed they have acquired stay- 

 at-home habits, and do not know their way about the country. 

 To teach them and the young hounds all that must be learned 

 in little more than a month is no light labour for a huntsman, 

 whose troubles are not lessened by the fact that chances of a 

 gallop, however short, are certain to attract a number of impetuous 

 youths for whom the slower incidents of woodland hunting in 

 August have few charms. When the first light frosts of late 

 September redden the copses, and misty sunlight rests on broad 

 stretches of stubble, Cub-hunting may begin in the least-favoured 

 countries. Then master and huntsman can shake off many cares 

 concerning probable claims for damage to crops, but they will be 

 still harassed by dread of the thoughtless pursuer, whose eagerness 



