246 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



hunted tliere since tlie destruction of the red deer. Colonel 

 IMontresor then took his hounds, and after that Captain Lovell, 

 who knows the forest as well as any one, got a couple or two of 

 fox-hounds, which were steady to deer, as a nucleus, and every 

 spring (leave to hunt being obtained for the April month) sup- 

 plemented them with drafts from friends' kennels until a 

 sufficient pack was collected, and has continued the sport. Here 

 alone, at the present time, can wild buck-hunting be seen in 

 England. I know of no merrier place to spend the April month 

 than the New Forest, as the fox-hounds hunt on into May, and 

 the deer-hounds are out twice a week ; so that the man who, 

 when hunting is over elsewhere, takes his horses to Southampton 

 or Lyndhurst can very well manage to make out his season 

 until the merry month sets in. Here are to be found, at this 

 time of the year, some of our best sportsmen, and it is no 

 unusual thing to see two or three masters of fox-hounds at a 

 meet at Stony Cross. One year Lord Wolverton took up his 

 pack of bloodhounds and hunted on alternate days with Cap- 

 tain Lovell, but they did not seem to enjoy the scent, as I have 

 previously said. 



The sport in the forest is certainly not so good now as it was 

 a few years ago, on account of the enormous amount of enclo- 

 sure and planting which has taken place, transforming the only 

 bit of wild scenery we had in the south of England into one 

 huge pine forest ; but I hope, now an end is put to this Van- 

 dalism, that the forest will be allowed to return once more 

 to its natural state. As it is, where a few years back we rode 

 across large open moors, there are acres of fir-trees through 

 which it is impossible to follow hounds, and there is nothing 

 for it but to stick to the ridings, and keep as near to them 

 as you can by ear. The plan pursued in hunting the buck 

 is very much the same as that of the stag. If possible, one 

 is " harboured," and then, if amongst other deer, he is roused 

 with tufters (or I have seen a bloodhound used for the purpose) 

 and separated. If this cannot be effected, some of the more 



