IN THE WOODLANDS 283 



not, I hope, necessary to point out that because I 

 am going to say a word for the woodlands that I 

 therefore do not appreciate a quick find in a gorse 

 covert, but what I want to urge is that it is the 

 woodland hunting in which the science of hunting 

 is learned, and it is generally the woodland fox 

 that is the stoutest, the wiliest, and the most diffi- 

 cult to handle. I may remark, passim, that the 

 other day a gentleman was speaking in no very 

 complimentary terms of fox-hunting. He said 

 that he infinitely preferred the drag. "You have 

 no waiting," said he, " you gallop straight away, 

 knowing well that you are running no risk of 

 falling in with wire, and you have not to trail 

 about for hours without doing anything." Which is 

 perhaps the modern version of the saying attributed 

 to Lord Alvanley, " What fun we could have if it 



were not for those d d hounds." Well, a man 



with sentiments like the foregoing had better read 

 no farther. He is no sportsman, though he 

 doubtless labours under the delusion that he is, 

 and for him the beauties of hound-work are not. 



That woodland foxes, as a rule (there is no 

 rule without an exception, mind), take most killing 

 is admitted by most huntsmen who have had any 

 experience. Nor is the reason for this far to seek. 

 The fox whose home is in the big woods almost 

 invariably gets a start ; the quickest of huntsmen 

 has great difficulty in getting hounds away on 

 "the top of his back," and he consequently has 

 the time and opportunity to display that cunning 

 for which his race is proverbial. Then the hunts- 

 man has to exercise all the woodcraft at his 

 command, and keep eye and ear open from the 

 moment his fox is found to the time he is killed, 



