THE NORTH DURHAM COUNTRY. 15 



away. It might have been thought that foxes which were 

 so frequently hunted would change their quarters, but these 

 did not. To begin with, they were four or five months old 

 before their education began, and then a brace of terriers from 

 whom they could slip away in the covert were not very for- 

 midable enemies, and, lastly, they were too big for the old 

 foxes to remove. That foxes remove young cubs, carrying 

 them in their mouths from one snug place to another, is within 

 my knowledge, for I have actually seen them doing it; but a 

 four or five months old cub is a strong, lusty individual, and 

 at that time of his existence has shaken off the apron strings 

 and become almost independemt. It must be understood that 

 the place I am writing about was an ideal one for the business 

 I have just described. The young plantation was situated 

 on the crown of a hill, and the earths, except for the long rank 

 grass which grew round them, were in the open and several 



feet below the highest part of the covert. They are indeed 



for they still exist — on a sloping bank, and from the outside 

 of the wall a few feet away the ground falls so quickly that a 

 man approaching from the lower ground is hidden until he 

 reaches the wall. It would perhaps be difficult to find an 

 exactly similar place, but I have seen young cubs hunted — 

 exercised, we used to call it^ — by terriers in other coverts during 

 the late summer, and most certainly the after consequences 

 were satisfactory, for these cubs gave better sport than their 

 neighbo'urs. 



No doubt it will be urged that too many cubs cannot be 

 killed during cubhunting, and that hounds would be a little 

 handicapped when hunting foxes which had been " exercised " 

 by terriers, and so I must explain that at the time I am writing 

 of — in the 'seventies and 'eighties of last century — holding up 

 oubs in this particular district was not only unknown but 

 almost impossible. I am seldom there now at cubhunting 

 times, but I believe the foxes in the North Durham are hunted 

 in ordinary fashion from the earliest meets in September, and 

 I know they are in the adjoining Braes of Derwent country. 

 Thirty and forty years ago there was no " field " to hold the 

 foxes up, had it been thought of, and now very few of the 

 covei-ts will allow of it being done, though when plenty of 

 ridei-s are out it is possible at Rackwoodside, Dean House, and 



