ARTIFICIAL COVERS. 14 I 



Sjround," a find usually accompanies a draw. One 

 qreat recommendation to encourage brakes, is 

 the impossibility of shooters and poachers walking 

 in them especially during the night, consequently 

 they are quieter. We may also add to the list, 

 natural gorse covers, which are met with generally 

 upon the sides of hills, or on what are termed hangings ; 

 these are considered by many persons as much more 

 preferred by foxes to kennel in than the artificial gorses 

 (of which I shall speak hereafter), and one reason given 

 by old sportsmen is, that when the gorse is young, 

 after having been cut, the sheep and cattle eat away 

 the grass as it grows up, which allows the gorse to 

 shoot stronger ; moreover that the bare places occa- 

 sioned by the cattle grazing, make excellent kennels 

 for a fox, where he can bask in the sunshine, and dry 

 himself after wet weather. Let it also be remembered 

 that gorse which grows upon stiflf clay soil, although 

 longer in coming to perfection, remains in full vigour 

 during many more seasons than where the soil is sandy, 

 and, consequently, more congenial to a quick growth. 



As to artificial fox-covers, they may be classed under 

 the heads of gorse, broom, osiers, and stick or fagot 

 covers. 



The oldest artificial gorse cover in the Pytchley 

 country, as I have been informed upon good authority 

 by several sportsmen who have hunted in North- 

 amptonshire all their lives, was a cover in Yelvertoft- 

 field ; there were two, but the one known as Lord 

 Spencer's cover was the oldest, and to which I now 

 allude. Since those days, the numerous covers which 

 have been made (and if half of which were destroyed 



