Hunting Sketches 259 



into the road, and returned into the little drain that he 

 had just come through. The hounds used to run down 

 to this drain, jump the wall, which was a low one, and, 

 picking up the scent on the other side, carried it right 

 into the middle of the field behind the Manor House. 

 Foxes very often ran this line towards the Thorpe Green 

 coverts, and when the scent was lost the first cast was 

 naturally in their direction ; by the time that this had 

 failed the field were sure to have crowded behind, and 

 there being no place apparent where a fox could conceal 

 himself no one ever thought of it being anywhere but 

 forward, instead of it being snugly ensconced in the little 

 drain. Had this gone under the road, it would have no 

 doubt been tried to see if the fox was there, but as it only 

 ran under the wall of the park, and was in fact barely 

 big enough to conceal the fox, it escaped attention. 



Another celebrity was a white fox that was one of 

 a litter at Thorpe Green, and was constantly seen 1865- 

 67. Some of the other cubs had more than a usual 

 amount of white, but this one, a short distance off, looked 

 perfectly snow-white. Sir Charles liked its being about, 

 and never would hunt it if he knew that we were in 

 pursuit of it, but on one occasion the hounds ran it hard 

 down the whole length of the Long Wood at Kirby Hall, 

 and it was not known at first that it was the white fox 

 they were after. On reaching the end of the covert in 

 the park the fox was headed, and went straight back 

 through the pack, but though there was an excellent scent 

 not a hound seemed to recognise that it was the fox, or 

 made an effort to catch it. The moment it had passed, 

 and the effluvia reached their nostrils, they started off 

 again in pursuit as eagerly as ever. They were speedily 



