NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



dead weight of some pounds avoirdupois — a load which 

 his fretting horse, already fidgeting at the nature of 

 his duties, might well resent. Altogether the capping 

 system has many drawbacks. Still, as a temporary 

 alleviation, it seems likely to be largely adopted in the 

 near future. 



The causes which have led to the introduction of a 

 heavy "cap" are at the bottom of most of the inevi- 

 table deterioration of hunting manners, which good 

 sportsmen, who really love hunting for hunting's sake, 

 so much deplore. Overcrowded fields lead to jealousy. 

 No man wants to be left behind, and it is a common 

 enough thing now, in what are called the fashionable 

 countries, to witness at the covert-side some extremely 

 unpleasant scenes. The struggle for a good start in 

 a crowded field, when a fox is found, brings out some 

 of the worst features of the selfish sportsman, and men 

 who ought to know better are now to be seen over- 

 riding hounds in a way that would have been deemed 

 by our hunting ancestors of a generation or two back 

 absolutely impossible. 



It is not an uncommon thing now in well-known 

 hunting countries, when a fox is holloaed away, to see 

 a few couple of hounds appear from covert, then some 

 of the more jealous or more reckless of the field, then 

 more hounds, then the main body of the field, finally 

 a mixed assortment of tail hounds and riders. Such 

 a scramble is not hunting. It is a most disreputable 

 and melancholy spectacle, and the sight of the un- 

 fortunate master, flaming with anger, yet powerless 

 against the mere numbers of ill-conditioned offenders, 

 is yet more melancholy. Foxes are mobbed and headed 

 and sport is ruined, by consequence, day by day, and a 

 good run is the exception, and not the rule, in most of 

 the flying countries. 



138 



