34 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



shooting. By the former we mean men who own two 

 or three estates, and keep one of them apparently for 

 its shooting alone. When this happens such owners 

 may come for the shooting two or three times during the 

 season, bringing their party with them, and only stay- 

 ing a week or so at a time. Though owning a big 

 property they do not spend more than two or three 

 weeks of the year on it, and they are naturally outside 

 the local life of the district, and — one must think — care 

 little about what their neighbours may wish with regard 

 to sport. 



And if we look into the matter, a big estate where 

 foxes are not preserved, in the midst of a hunting 

 country, is a terrible thing. That it is not uncommon 

 we have more than suggested, but if the hunting 

 country is large in area it is quite possible that few 

 beyond the master and his immediate entourage will 

 ever know of the trouble and annoyance caused by 

 such places. If it is an open secret that foxes are not 

 preserved on such and such a manor hounds are prob- 

 ably not taken there, and of course they seldom run 

 there, because the foxes which are hunted as a rule try 

 to reach the coverts they were bred in, and have lived 

 in ever since. Thus many of an average field hardly 

 realise that a certain portion of the country in which 

 they hunt is taboo ; those who live near the ostracised 

 coverts, who pass them on their way to meets, and on 

 their homeward road, will, of course, understand why 

 they are not drawn, but we have heard of men spending 

 two or three seasons in a country where some big 

 estates were to all intents and purposes closed to the 

 hunt, and were yet unaware that hounds were not taken 

 there as they were to any other covert in the hunt. 

 They thought — when they came to consider the matter 



