58 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



and I knew a master of liounds who had one that, though he 

 could handle him for a time, on being introduced to a brace of 

 vixen which had been dug out of some dangerous earths for 

 safety sake, before they were liberated again, turned savage at 

 once, and would show his teeth, and hiss like a snake, if any 

 one came near him. The late Mr. Thomas Nevill, of Chilland, 

 some years ago had an old fox, which had been caught in a 

 gin, brought to him, and, as his foot was injured, he kept him. 

 Strange to say, although full-grown, he became perfectly tame, 

 and would allow his master to carry him about in his arms. 

 He was a noted rat-killer, and, when a barn was being emptied, 

 or a rick removed, was of fcir more use than any terrier, be he 

 never so good. There is also one now at the " Haycock " at 

 Wansford, which can be handled like a dog. 



tookt away our little specklet}' hen ; I seed un snap un up, and away to go 

 I did ! ' 



" ' Then,' said Russell, ' I'll kill him, and give you another hen ;' and on 

 he went with his hounds. 



" And die he did, directly afterwards, for within two gunshots of the spot, 

 just over the Barle, the hounds ran into him ; while the dishevelled carcase 

 of the * poor little specklety hen,^ still warm with life, was picked up by 

 the disconsolate owner, bringing the deed home, without a doubt, to the 

 rapacity of that hunted fox." 



The run had been one of an hour and forty minutes, without a check. 

 The woman was a poor charcoal-burner's wife, and it need not be said was 

 amply rewarded for her loss. 



In the same article is the following anecdote of Mr. John King, of 

 Fowelscombe, at one time Master of the Hambledon Hounds in Hants :— 



" He had been running a fox merrily for upwards of forty minutes ; and 

 coming up to a farmyard, by which he was making a short cut, he saw the 

 fox dash into a flock of ducks, seize a mallard just below the green of his 

 neck, and carry him off across a large field j when the hounds, running 

 into him, Mr. King picked up the mallard, then quivering in its last gasp, 

 and restored it to its owner." 



These facts, as well as those I have given, are related on such good 

 authority, that no one can for a moment question them. And, in the case 

 of my friend at North Kllworth, and the Rev. J. Russell, I am glad to say 

 the eye-witnesses are now alive. 



