322 HUNTING PRELIMINARIES. 



to do them justice. His reduced subscription would doubtless 

 be credited to the covert fund. Even with a non-subscription 

 pack, like what the Belvoir was when it was hunted by the 

 Duke of Rutland and his son Lord Edward Manners, a 

 subscription to the covert fund would always be courteously 

 received, and its payment should be regarded as a debt of 

 honour in discharge for the inevitable damage done to crops 

 and fences by one's presence in the field. 



In a few English hunts (about one in every twelve), a 

 cap is taken in amounts which vary from a shilling to a 

 pound, and the collection as a rule goes to the general fund, 

 the earth-stopping fund, the huntsman, or hunt servants. 

 Formerly, a cap was often made for the huntsman when a 

 fox was killed, and no doubt was the cause of a good deal 

 of " hark halloa " and " tally ho back." Lord Lonsdale tried 

 the capping system at a guinea a head with the Ouorn, 

 and seven guineas were amassed on the first day. Capping 

 consequently disappeared from Leicestershire. In Ireland, on 

 the contrary, capping is practised with success in about five- 

 sixths of all the fox hunts ; the usual " field money," as 

 it is called, being half-a-crown, although the South Union 

 demand five shillings. 



It is usual at the end of the season to give a present to the 

 hunt servants, who certainly deserve it. A suitable amount 

 for a man of moderate means would be three pounds to the 

 huntsman, and a pound to each whipper-in. Formerly a 

 " tip " of, say, a crown each, was often given to the earth- 

 stoppers. Stopping is now generally done by local keepers, 

 who are paid by the hunt or Master. In the spring they 

 are sometimes given a dinner, at which they usually pose as 

 lovers of the fox, and only tolerators of the pheasant. I 

 may mention in passing, that two is the full number of 

 whippers-in, as in Fig. 8i. Each of these hunt servants carries 

 a stirrup leather over his right shoulder. The man who 



