General Remarks. 99 



case on a light soil. Having no burrows to which 

 to retreat, the rabbits are easily coursed down by 

 a fox, and, being obliged to sit above ground, are 

 seized in their seats by foxes hunting by daylight. 

 Litters of young rabbits are also laid up in hollow 

 stumps, where they remain an easy prey to the 

 first passing fox ; or in shallow stops, which 

 Reynard quickly tears out if so disposed. 



Artificial earths may not be an unmixed 

 blessing, but should certainly be provided in a 

 clay country if game is required, for foxes which 

 remain at ground by day do far less damage in 

 the end. If a passage can be made in some 

 steep bank, through the clay to a vein of sand, 

 the foxes will do the rest ; and a cosier abiding 

 place for them could not be imagined. Should 

 an earth have to be made, it must be located 

 at a spot just inside a gorse, so that it may 

 be closed at night without the necessity of the 

 keeper passing through a large portion of the 

 covert. If he is compelled to do this, a fox 

 which has just emerged from its earth, and not yet 

 left the covert, may be driven back and shut in. 

 A keeper for his own sake should be most careful 

 to shut foxes from their earths when required, and 

 to close the entrances properly when hounds are 

 expected to run his way. He is generally credited 



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