OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 15 



but that tlicy will do well in the open ; hounds 

 that can kill a Fox quick in covert seldom fail 

 out of it. 



I was out the other day in a large woodland 

 in Wiltshire, and very much pleased with a pack 

 of hounds I saw^ at work ; they kept close together 

 at their Fox, and killed him handsomely in forty- 

 three minutes. I only saw them cross two fields 

 out of covert, but it was enough to convince me 

 they could do the thing well over a country ; 

 indeed I have heard from an excellent judge, 

 that they are quite as good out of covert as they 

 are in. The pack consisted chiefly of the Beau- 

 fort sort. 



Sportsmen differ in opinion with regard to the 

 best zvay of enicring hounds. A very celebrated 

 one once told me, he thought the most preferable 

 method w^as to enter them to Hare in the spring : 

 I never could far.cy it ; although it might be 

 economical to find out their vices, and by that 

 means save the expense of keej^ing them over 

 the summer. A much better plan I should im- 

 agine, if they are well bred, is to put them with 

 some veterans into a covert, not too small or 

 too large, certain of having a litter of Foxes ; and 

 continvie to hunt the different coverts you may 

 happen to have in your Cub-hunting covmtry, 

 thus giving your young hounds plenty of work 



