46 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



rank and file of a big field only knew that foxes were 

 scarcer than they ought to be, and that good runs came 

 less often than formerly. The anxieties of the master, 

 and those acquainted with the inner workings of a hunt ; 

 the anxieties of the genuine fox preserver, who found 

 his cubs contaminated year after year ; these were 

 questions which hardly disturbed a great majority of 

 the hunting community. Nor was there ever any great 

 outcry made in the public Press, and on this point we 

 have often thought that a bolder policy would have 

 been all for the best. But, naturally enough, the most 

 prominent descriptive writers on hunting were anxious 

 to ignore the trouble as far as possible, and were also 

 extremely careful not to write anything at which um- 

 brage might be taken. Thus there was little or no 

 mention of mangy foxes being hunted, and seldom any 

 definite statement that sport on any particular day was 

 spoilt by mange. 



But what really occurred all too often was a total col- 

 lapse of sport, and here we must go to personal 

 experience, and state only what we have seen ourselves. 

 Imagine, then, hounds meeting in a good country, 

 where excessive game preservation was absolutely un- 

 known, where foxes had always been exceedingly 

 numerous, and as strong as wolves, and yet where 

 mange had crept in, solely and entirely through infec- 

 tion from another country. Hounds draw covert after 

 covert which a year or two before were certain finds, 

 but two o'clock arrives, and not a sign of a fox has been 

 seen or heard of. The master begins to get very 

 anxious, especially when he notices that his hounds, 

 which have been drawing for three hours — and who 

 are only repeating the performance of several previous 

 days — are beginning to show signs of slackness. He 



