'202 HUNTING DIRECTORY. 



Purchasing Foxes condemned. 



Your cvibs, though they may get off from the covers 

 where they were bred, when hunted, will seldom fail to 

 return to them. 



" Gentlemen who buy foxes do great injury to fox- 

 hunting : they encourage the robbing of neighbouring 

 hunts ; in which case, without doubt, the receiver is as 

 bad as the thief. It is the interest of every fox-hunter 

 to be cautious how he behaves in this particular: indeed, 

 I believe most gentlemen are so ; %nd it may be easy to 

 retaliate on such as are not. I am told, that in some 

 hunts it is the constant employment of one person to 

 watch the earths at the breeding time, to prevent the 

 cubs from being stolen. Furze covers cannot be too 

 much encouraged, for that reason ; for there they are 

 safe. They have also other advantages attending them : 

 they are certain places to find in : foxes cannot break 

 from them unseen ; nor are you so liable to change as in 

 other covers. 



" With respect to the digging of foxes that you run 

 to ground, — what I myself have observed in that busi- 

 ness I will endeavour to recollect. My people usually, 

 I think, follow the hole, except when the earth is large, 

 and the terriers have fixe'd the fox in an angle of it ; for 

 they then find it a more expeditious method to sink a 

 pit as near to him as they can. You should always keep 

 a terrier in at the fox ; for if you do not, he not only may 

 move, but also, in loose ground, may dig himself further 

 in. In digging, you should keep room enough ; and 

 care should be taken not to throw the earth whence you 

 may have to move it again. In following the hole, the 

 surest way not to lose it is to keep below it. — When 



