Lord Fitzhardinge's. 351 



Berkshire Vale, or part of the Vale of White Horse. 

 It takes a strong horse, a well bred one, and a very- 

 good hunter to perform creditably over it. And if he 

 is to take his turn on the hills as well, he must 

 possess all the best attributes of a Cotswold horse in 

 addition. The coverts of the vale are small but 

 numerous — almost too numerous, when a bad fox is 

 before hounds ; for they not only encourage him to 

 dodge, but they aid him to set other foxes on foot as 

 he goes. Besides plantations and small woods, there 

 are about the marsh many withy beds which form 

 excellent covert. It almost goes without saying, 

 that foxes are wonderfully plentiful all over Lord 

 Fitzhardinge's country — or such a narrow strip as his 

 vale could not stand the incessant work it gets after the 

 first month of the regular season. Yet the worst stage 

 it ever arrives at is that the fox of the day may 

 sometimes be difficult to find, though no sooner are 

 hounds set going than other foxes are sure to discover 

 themselves. 



Overlooking the Berkeley Vale for the whole of its 

 length are — as above written — the Cotswold hills, the 

 plateau of which, after providing the Duke of Beaufort 

 with half his hunting ground, runs north to do duty 

 for the Cotswold and the North Cotswold Hunts. 

 Strong woodlands clothe the steep ascent, everywhere 

 on the edge of Lord Fitzhardinge's country; and 

 these well wooded hillsides form the chief scene of 

 work during all the earlier and final weeks of the 

 season. The foxes which are naturally inclined to 

 gather in the big woods as autumn comes on are 

 thus thoroughly routed ; and many are driven down 



