APPENDIX. 141 



though taking many years to mature, 

 eventually becomes practically everlasting, 

 whilst the latter, although often proving very 

 holding and satisfactory when properly planted, 

 requires occasional renewing to keep it up to 

 the mark. 



Natural gorse coverts are the result of 

 scattered bushes having been allowed to grow 

 without interference for years — one might 

 almost say centuries — until the gaps between 

 them became eventually filled up, the whole 

 presenting from the outside the appearance 

 of a solid and impenetrable mass of green. 

 This, however, is not the case, the natural 

 gorse is almost invariably hollow underneath, 

 but the outside, from having for years been 

 kept close cropped by cattle, especially horses, 

 with the same effect as the frequent clipping of 

 a hedge, has become desperately thick, and 

 forms a weather-proof covering, under which 

 the foxes love to curl up, dry and warm, 

 sheltered from every wind and rain, and through 

 which they can move with the greatest facility. 



This hollowness of the natural gorse con- 

 stitutes its special charm, not only from a 

 vulpine, but from a sporting point of view. A 



