366 SPORT IN EUROPE 



seems doubtful whether they ever turn out to be stout-hearted, strong- 

 running foxes. 



The fox that gives the best run is the old dog, the woodland- 

 bred fellow that in the early spring has wandered many miles from 

 his haunt in search of a dainty fowl or an interview 



^ with the eav Miss Vixen ; and lo, havinq- lain down 



Foxes. ^ ■' ^ 



for a short siesta, there falls on his ear the deep note 

 of his dreaded enemy — the hound — and the sharp twang of that 

 awful instrument — the horn — and he foots it with all speed, straight 

 as a bow-line, for his home in the snug drain under the hill, eight, 

 or maybe ten, miles distant. 



But how seldom do these old varmints get pursued ! Age and 

 knowledge have given them understanding and cunning, and at the 

 first cry of the human voice, at the first whimper of the hounds, at 

 the first note of the horn, they are on their feet (ought I to say 

 "pads " ?) and slinking off, whilst poor Miss Vixen and Master Cub of 

 a season's growth wander round the covert wondering what course 

 to pursue. 



Stag-hunting can be traced back three hundred years, and was 



surely in the early days a finer sport, for many reasons, than the 



fox-hunting of to-day. One reason is that the stag is 

 Stag-hunting. 



a fleeter and more powerful animal ; and there is a 



famous run on record, in the time of Charles II., which consisted of 



a seventy-mile point. 



But again, over-population, or civilisation, including, as it does, 



public rights to everything (with barbed wire thrown in), has almost 



exterminated this once grand sport ; and only on Exmoor Forest 



