226 HUNTING THE HAKE 



foxhounds have drawn them, and then he will do 

 little or no harm if he happens to run into them ; 

 but to disturb a covert with harriers shortly before it 

 is to be drawn for a fox is certainly to endanger the 

 chance of a fox being found there. When a master 

 of harriers attends to his duties in these respects, the 

 master of foxhounds will have no reason to complain 

 of him, but the contrary, for let us look at the other 

 side of the question. A pack of harriers disturbs many 

 and many a fox from the fields and hedgerows which 

 would never have been found by the foxhounds, 

 which, having been disturbed from their outlying 

 haunts, are more likely to seek shelter in the coverts on 

 a future occasion, and will not by jumping up in the 

 open spoil a good run, as is so often the case. The 

 good that harriers do in this direction far outweighs 

 the possible harmful results of their running into a 

 covert now and then, if, as has been already pointed 

 out, they only do this when foxhounds are not likely 

 to draw the covert for some time to come. 



Another great point in favour of hare-hunting 

 which is not sufficiently thought of by foxhunters is 

 that it brings the young idea up in the way it should 

 go. The farmer's boy on his rough pony gets a 

 period of perfectly ecstatic delight out of a day with 

 the harriers. Foxhounds he only comes across occa- 



