240 HUNTING. 



Naseby Covert, and Marston Wood, are all coverts of mark 

 here. 



From Weedon you get grass nearly all round you, and in 

 the Shuckburgh valley, over which a good fox will probably 

 take you from Braunston Gorse, some very big fences. Badby 

 Wood is the most notable stronghold of foxes in these parts, 

 and Ashby St. Ledgers, Nobottle Wood, Brampton Gorse, 

 Harberton Heath, Whitton osier bed (with a nice little brook, 

 though often found a nasty one, handy), Staverton Wood, and 

 Buckby Folly, are all rich in the raw material. From Weedon, 

 too, you may find yourself at Brixworth and try your chance at 

 ' Knightley's leap,' a fenced brook below Brixworth Hill, over 

 which the late Sir Charles Knightley, on his famous Benvolio, 

 once covered thirty-one feet of ground. The coverts on the 

 extreme south, Stowe Wood, Everton Stubbs, &c., are shared 

 with the Duke of Grafton. 



In the Northampton district there are big woodlands, and 

 more plough than elsewhere. From Sywell Wood to Gib 

 Wood is almost a continuous chain of coverts, practically mak- 

 ing one vast wood. Herein foxes disport themselves abun- 

 dantly, but they are not always to be persuaded to go away as 

 good foxes should. Round Harrowden and Faxton are the 

 best and most grassy parts of this district. Near Northampton 

 the soil is lighter, and this is known as the worst scenting 

 ground of the country. 



The Woodland country, now, as we have said, hunted by a 

 separate pack, lies mainly between the river Welland on the 

 west and the Nene on the east. The kennels are at Brigstock, 

 a central point, and the places from which the best of the 

 country can be reached are Kettering, Thrapston, Oundle, and 

 Market Harboro', but the Nimrods at the last place naturally, 

 save in the early autumn and late spring, prefer their own 

 open pastures. The Duke of Buccleuch's woods, Brigstock 

 Forest, the Bulwick Woods, the great coverts of Deene, 

 Brampton and Oundle Woods, Carlton Forest, and the Pipwell 

 Woods are the most conspicuous of these famous strongholds. 



