OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 49 



in October. The hounds held well to their fox 

 for two hours, and killed him in the centre of 

 the covert, and eat him ; the consequence was, 

 the next time we met at the same covert, the 

 animal broke as soon as the hounds Avere put 

 into it ; and we had from thence seven good 

 runs over a country, and killed each time, in 

 the course of the season. In coverts or gorses 

 of a moderate size, known to be good for spoi-t 

 and certainty of finding, you must act quite the 

 reverse ; and not only avoid drawing them, or 

 disturbing them as little as possible, but if you 

 should have the misfortune to kill a fox in either, 

 get the fox out as soon as possible, and on no 

 account allow the hounds to eat him in it. I 

 have known instances of hounds killing and eating 

 a fox in a favourite covert, the consequence of 

 which has been that they have not found there 

 the whole season afterward. Nothing is so pre- 

 judicial to sport as meeting too often at favourite 

 coverts, or disturbing them unnecessarily. A fox 

 is a shy animal, and if he is not allowed to remain 

 quiet, will often lie in drains and in the fields, 

 and of course get killed by greyhounds ; and if 

 you disturb your best coverts on bye days, you 

 are not acting fairly to the people who hunt with 

 you, as you cannot expect to find in a covert 

 so recently drawn. 



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