112 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



with the master, a very silent man who kept his own 

 counsel, and it was not until the conclusion of our visit 

 that he unburdened his mind. He then told us that 

 matters had been going from bad to worse for several 

 years, but that he and a few friends had put their heads 

 together, and he thought had succeeded in stopping 

 the rot. He himself had taken 7000 acres of shooting, 

 and his friends, individually, in twos, and in syndicates, 

 had taken 20,000 additional acres. They had some 

 three or four years before found means of ascertaining 

 who had the shooting rights in every part of the 

 country ; they had next approached the owners or their 

 agents, and had secured the reversion in dozens of 

 cases, and at the moment of our visit they were just 

 entering into possession. It was a country of huge 

 woodlands, with good hunting country interspersed, 

 and luckily for the hunt many of the members were 

 wealthy men, who were keen on both hunting and 

 shooting. Moreover, a majority of the best and most 

 central coverts had been secured, and we know that 

 there was a quick improvement in the fox supply, and 

 that in spite of a mange visitation matters have gone 

 on well since. Our friend, the old master, has been 

 dead many years, but quite lately we had a couple of 

 days in the very country where the blank days occurred, 

 and foxes were numerous everywhere. 



Poultry fund, covert fund, earth-stopping, and wire 

 fund are sometimes lumped together, and sometimes 

 separately maintained, but whereas at one time it was 

 customary for the officials of a hunt to pay all hunt 

 subscriptions of less than ^10, or of ^5, as the case 

 might be, to the credit of this fund or funds, it is now 

 customary in many hunts for the members to make an 

 extra donation to each of these funds, or to the lot 



