126 HUNTING TOURS. 



of foxhunting are sufficiently numerous and 

 extensive to contribute their best effects, 

 without the entailment of those dull passages 

 of sport commonly attributed to densely- 

 wooded districts. In these favoured coverts 

 you have constant opportunities of admiring 

 the beautiful instincts of hounds portrayed 

 to the utmost advantage, from the first 

 exciting challenge to the still greater enthu- 

 siasm when the pack, in full chorus, settles 

 to the scent of the flying fox as he gallantly 

 braves the dangers of an open country. Then, 

 again, the coverts are not in such close 

 proximity as to interfere with those stirring 

 incidents which are attendant on a burst. 

 Neither are the fences, with few exceptions, 

 of impracticable magnitude ; the fields are 

 large, and occasionally stone walls, of mode- 

 rate pretensions, diversify the interest, and a 

 brook is sometimes found to weed the field, 

 affording hounds opportunities of slipping 

 from the crowd, to the excusable delight of 

 masters and huntsmen. The Duke of Rutland 

 exercises the right of occupying the country 

 on the north ; the Hon. George Fitzwilliam 

 and the Pytchley divide the prerogative of 

 the south ; while eastward of Market Deep- 



