70 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



long ago we heard a master of hounds complain 

 that " the whole of his Tuesday country was closed 

 until the end of November." This gentleman hunted 

 a large country four days a week, and not wishing to 

 disappoint the members of his field he kept to his 

 regular days, but of course had much difficulty in 

 fixing his meets, and more difficulty still when he 

 tried to arrange his draw. 



And we have good reason to believe that during 

 the cub-hunting period, and much later, many masters 

 have similar trouble to that we have just narrated, 

 and are, in point of fact, at their wits' end to find suitable 

 coverts open to them in the early part of the season. 

 This, too, is much the most important time as regards 

 coverts, for the simple reason that foxes, after the 

 harvest is gathered in, do not lie out in such numbers 

 as they do in the spring of the year. Where mustard 

 is grown cubs will often be found after the corn 

 harvest is over, but during the autumn months a 

 huge majority of foxes are in the coverts, and 

 thus from the hunting point of view the coverts are 

 a greater necessity then than they are towards the 

 end of the season — when foxes are found in the hedge- 

 rows, on bare fallow fields, or in any rough and secluded 

 shelter, however small it may be. 



It is also to be borne in mind that in most countries 

 there are coverts which afford good lying for foxes in 

 the autumn, but which are practically useless after 

 there has been a severe frost, or a heavy fall of snow. 

 Bracken, for example, makes good covert as long as 

 it is standing, but a fall of snow or a few degrees of 

 frost will level it to the ground, and when that takes 

 place foxes will leave it at once. We have had some 

 experience of coverts where bracken is almost the 



