HUNTING THE FOX 21 



to teach a pack of Hounds perseverance, the true 

 secret of success, is for the Master and his Staff to 

 exhibit this quahty themselves. Hounds are very 

 receptive. Even after it would seem certain that 

 every Cub has left the covert, it is always well 

 worth while to draw back over the old ground on 

 the chance of getting a tired one on to his legs who 

 has lain down, hoping his enemies had left. This 

 is often much more profitable than breaking fresh 

 ground, and having to begin all over again to tire 

 a fresh litter of Cubs. There are few things in 

 Fox-hunting of more value to the moral of the 

 Hounds than to finish a long dragging morning 

 by re-finding a leg-weary Cub and killing him after 

 a good cry lasting about a quarter of an hour. The 

 lesson learnt from this experience is that in dealing 

 with a litter of Cubs it is a good general rule to 

 keep on the same ground as long as possible, much 

 on the same principle as in dealing with a covey 

 of young partridges at the same time of year. At 

 a certain phase of the operation everything seems 

 to be hopeless, and the game to have vanished. 

 But more often than not it will tend to creep back 

 home again, if indeed it is not lying down on its 

 own ground. It should be remarked that a tired 

 Cub will often lie very close, and not always in 

 the thick places, sometimes trying to hide in the 

 boundary hedges and ditches of the covert, so that 

 in drawing back over the old ground the search 



