308 FURZE-COVERS USEFUL. 



Your game-keepers, at this time of the year, 

 having little else to do, may feed and take care 

 of them. When you stop any of these earths, 

 remember to have them opened again, as I 

 have reason to think I lost some young foxes 

 one year by not doing it. For your own 

 satisfaction, put a private mark on every fox 

 which you turn out, that you may know him 

 again. Your cubs, though they may get off 

 from the covers where they were bred, when 

 hunted, will seldom fail to return to them. 



Gentlemen who buy foxes do great injui'y to 

 fox-hunting : they encourage the robbing of 

 neighbouring hunts ; in which case, without 

 doubt, the receiver is as bad as the thief. It 

 is the interest of every fox-hunter to be cau- 

 tious how he behaves in this particular : indeed, 

 I believe most gentlemen are so; and it may 

 be easy to retaliate on such as are not. I 

 am told, that in some hunts it is the constant 

 employment of one person to watch the earths 

 at the breeding time, to prevent the cubs from 

 being stolen. Furze-covers cannot be too much 

 encouraged, for that reason, for there they 

 are safe. They have also other advantages 

 attending them : they are certain places to 



