THE MASTER'S EXPENSES 129 



the morning of the meet. This is the worst plan of all, 

 worse, indeed, than inaction, since it generally has the 

 result of stopping the foxes in. The right hour for the 

 work is between half-past ten in the evening and mid- 

 night. The old-time earth-stopper was always at his 

 work between these hours, no matter how rough or cold 

 the weather. It was his occupation at the moment, and it 

 would no more have occurred to him to neglect it than 

 to go without his supper. These were the days in 

 which the countries got properly stopped, since the 

 old man knew the whereabouts of every litter and 

 did his work well and thoroughly. In the new order 

 of things, worse luck, no keeper allows intruders in 

 his covert. He or his underlings make a pretence of 

 stopping up the main earth. In nine cases out of ten 

 the procedure is a mere farce, for the men take no 

 notice of the three or four large rabbit earths, which, 

 though they never breed there, the foxes habitually use, 

 preferring them, indeed, to the main earth in cases of 

 sudden danger. Then, as already observed, they are 

 not particular as to the hour. If they begin too early 

 in the evening, the fox is not yet out ; if they leave it 

 till next morning, it has gone home again ; in either 

 case, it is stopped in, not out. 



It is a good plan, indeed, one of the best under 

 modern conditions, to have the earths stopped per- 

 manently at the beginning of the season. For this 

 purpose it is best to use a good substantial bundle of 

 faggots — " bavins " they are called in some parts — and 

 to stuff up the main earth with this until February, 

 when it should be removed in order that the vixen may 



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