SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 235 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 



Stub-bred foxes the stoutest runners — Any port in a storm — Terriers 

 — Our old sort — Pilgrim — Bagmen. 



Foxes have always a preference for that kind of 

 earth in which they have been bred, for there is 

 a great variety of soil throughout the different fox- 

 hunting countries in the British Isles. In some 

 parts of Essex, however, called the Roothings, there 

 are scarcely any earths, the substratum being a 

 hard, impervious clay, into which even badgers have 

 great difficulty to penetrate. Cubs here are what 

 is called stub-bred, that is, laid up in an old hollow 

 stool or under the roots of decayed trees ; some- 

 times, also, on the bare ground, in gorse-brakes. 

 These foxes, never having been accustomed to seek 

 refuge below the surface, make a long flight, depend- 

 ing solely upon their strength and speed to save 

 them from their enemies, and on this account are 

 said to be the stoutest runners in England. Foxes 

 bred in drains are the most difficult to find, since, 

 if barred out of one they find another very easily, 

 not known to eit];ier stopper or keeper ; and when 

 lands have been thoroughly di^ained, with large mains 

 to carry off the water from so many tributaries, it is 

 not a very easy matter to break up one of these, if 



