10 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



chopping sea. This is said to be a rehc of the days 

 when corn was worth growing and every field was a 

 ploughed one. 



It is trying to the best of horses, ruinous to the 

 inferior ones, and unless you can gallop through it 

 sideways or the lengthwise of the furrows, it adds very 

 much to the effects of pace in distressing a horse. A 

 straight-shouldered horse with upright pasterns is a 

 misery to ride. He pitches and rolls like a small boat 

 in a cross sea, and long before the end of the day the 

 unaccustomed rider is almost as beaten as the horse. 



There is yet another disadvantage which arises from 

 the hills and the ridge and furrow. In a hilly country 

 with an uneven surface foxes are apt to run short, 

 for a fox is an adept at crossing the open without being 

 seen. He knows well how to take advantage of every 

 depression in the ground and thus to escape observa- 

 tion. So unless a fox is pressed hard he can turn and 

 twist as he likes, and thus make his way back to the 

 covert from which he started. Even if scent is good 

 and hounds can drive along after a fox, he will run 

 over only as much country as he knows, turning back 

 when he reaches its limits. This I believe to be true 

 of all foxes without exception, for when a hunted fox 

 reaches the limit of his nightly ranges, he will seek 

 to return. 



Long runs, then, are the result of two causes. First, 

 when the fox is a traveller away from home. In the 

 early spring, dog foxes travel far ; and, when found, 

 they will return as fast as they can and generally in 

 a straight line. In the other case, a great run is the 

 result of more or less frequent changes, and hence it 

 will be but seldom crowned with a kill. When this 

 occurs, indeed, it is often claimed that the fox killed 

 is the original one found. Jim, the first whipper-in 



