332 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



This little red species is quite distinct in its habits and 

 character from the old greyhound fox, and will never 

 shew any sport at all until they are three or four years 

 old. They seldom go far from home, and when found, 

 either hang to the coverts or make short rings, running 

 more like hares ; neither have they the strength or 

 power to stand long before a pack of hounds. 



Many think a fox is a fox, and that every fox ought to 

 run ; but there is as much difference almost in the breed 

 of foxes as in the breed of dogs ; and I am quite satisfied 

 that many countries with which I am acquainted require 

 a cross in their foxes as much as they do in their hounds. 

 It may be asked where these greyhound foxes are to be 

 found. Without injuring or robbing any hunt, they 

 may be procured from the Highlands of Scotland, where 

 numbers are annually destroyed by the hill keepers ; also 

 from some parts of Wales, and some parts of Devonshire 

 on the coast, where foxhounds are not kept. They may 

 also be imported from Germany. When I first began 

 keeping foxhounds, T obtained several young foxes of 

 this species, and, by judicious management, they afforded 

 excellent sport. They were turned into a head of earths 

 in the best part of our country, four to an earth, and 

 there fed regularly until the month of September, when 

 they were old enough to shift for themselves. The 

 earths were always left open when we drew the coverts 

 in which they had been placed, as they were intended 

 for stock, and it was not my purpose to kill one of these 

 foxes during their first season. They were, however, of 

 a very rambling disposition, and after Christmas, we 

 found several of them many miles from their homes. 

 Some were unavoidably killed, but the greater part were 



