FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES ii 



as likely as not, is quite sure it is the same. " I took 

 partic'lar notice of the size of his tag," or " I saw he 

 was a very little 'un when I viewed 'un," This is often 

 said in good faith, though sometimes the wish is father 

 to the thought, or it may be prompted by a glance 

 from the huntsman. 



In Leicestershire, no doubt, where foxes are very 

 numerous, and where, moreover, as the season goes on, 

 they are much scattered, the chances are greatly in 

 favour of a change. " If you run twenty minutes in 

 Leicestershire," once said a well-known Master of 

 Hounds, "it is more than an even chance that you 

 have hunted two foxes at least." Nevertheless, there 

 are authentic, though rare, instances of hounds hunt- 

 ing the same fox for a long time and to a far distant 

 point. " We were hunting for two hours and a half 

 and never touched a covert," we may sometimes hear 

 one of the field assert. That, however, proves nothing, 

 for, as I have already pointed out, foxes in an open 

 winter lie in the hedgerows and furrows near the smaller 

 spinneys ; and especially is this the case towards the 

 end of the season, when the foxes have been well 

 disturbed. 



In spite, however, of all drawbacks, the Shires re- 

 main the best hunting grounds in the world. Nor is 

 this only on account of the natural advantages of 

 the country for hunting, for they attract to themselves 

 the best huntsmen. There are no hunting countries 

 where the sport depends so much on the huntsman as 

 in those of the Midlands. It is true that if hounds 

 are left to themselves without a crowd behind them they 

 will show excellent sport and kill many foxes, but it 

 is far otherwise when they have several hundred eager 

 men and women following them. In the Shires, then, 

 a huntsman cannot leave his hounds to themselves in 



