58 HUNTING TOURS. 



coverts I have seen for many a day, rendered 

 more than usually difficult by the weight of 

 snow that had fallen on it during the winter. 

 That it was tenanted soon became apparent, 

 and the fox made divers attempts to break 

 away, which, after a lapse of more than three 

 quarters of an hour, he succeeding in doing, 

 pointing for Wadley, but turned to the left 

 before reaching the railway, and again to the 

 left, as if Coleshill was his destination ; hard 

 pressed, he next gained a plantation near 

 Fearnham, having previously skirted the vil- 

 lage, where, running short, considerable delay 

 was occasioned, with the probability of his 

 having found a place of refuge in some of the 

 outbuildings. The huntsman, however, lost 

 no time in making a judicious cast, and hit 

 his fox into the plantation, where, after wait- 

 ing some little time, he was viewed away, and 

 the hounds again set to work in earnest, 

 running nearly to the Furzehills, but did not 

 reach them, preferring the coal pits, where, 

 running very short, the hunting powers of the 

 pack were again in request; still they perse- 

 vered gallantly, and, once more forcing him 

 into the open, ran into him close on the out- 

 skirts of the town of Farringdon. The time 



