214 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN 



make the man a friend to fox-hunting, who other- 

 wise goes home disappointed. Sometimes a man 

 runs hard to open a gate, or to give some informa- 

 tion, etc., for which he gets nothing — scarcely even 

 thanks. The huntsman gets the information, but lie 

 has not time to throw him a trifle ; and if any other 

 person does so, the man is thankful for it, and thinks 

 it quite correct to go to the pubhc-house and drink 

 success to fox-hunting, most probably in the presence 

 of some fox-taker, who shnks away. At all events, 

 the more friends foxes have the better ; and often 

 a civil word will gain one. 



Many men who hunt are equally fond of 

 shooting, and have friends who preserve their 

 game, many of whom are not aware of the ad- 

 vantage it is to them to have a pack of fox-h'ounds 

 in their covers — particularly early in the season — 

 in cub-hunting in September and October, when 

 they do an immense deal of good towards the 

 preservation of pheasants and hares. By working 

 the covers, they open the runs and tracks used by 

 pheasants so wide that a single snare or wire, or 

 even several, will not catch them ; but before the 

 tracks were open, every pheasant that came was 

 sure to be caught, and equally so with the hares. 

 The plan of catching pheasants with a single wire 



