SPORTING, 
infests all places where poultry, or any ani- 
mals it can master, are kept. All foxes are 
peculiarly alarmed by the discharge of fire- 
arms, and quit those earths which smell of 
gunpowder: hence, fumigating with sul- 
phur is resorted to as the certain means of 
expulsion. When pressed by hunger, foxes 
will eat snails, slugs, beetles, berries of va- 
rious kinds, crabs, shrimps, &c. and some- 
times carrion ; but they prefer warm flesh, 
and that too of their own killing. 
The fox knows how to secure a good 
asylum, either by digging holes, or by fol- 
lowing crevices among rocks, roots of trees, 
&c. ; with many apertures, so as to favour 
escape, or entrance, when in danger; or 
eventually, he steals in the den of some 
badger, occasioning that animal to quit it, 
and then enlarges, or alters, the interior 
according to his own fancy. When chaced, 
he generally flies the counti-y to some strong 
covert, endeavouring to shelter himself in 
some other earths; in which, however, he 
cannot remain when heated with running ; 
but he sometimes succeeds by swimming 
across streams, or by climbing trees, or to 
the tops of barns, &c. Sometimes, though 
not often, he will lead back to bis own 
earths, where he may expect certain death. 
It is usual, when the fox-hounds are to 
go out, to send out the earth-stoppers dur- 
ing the preceding night : these repair to 
the several haunts, and close the entrances 
while the foxes are abroad in search of 
prey. The cunning animal finding the 
work of man about his premises, retires to 
some furze, hether, or coppice, not far oflF, 
where he is sure to be started by the dogs ; 
and to be followed, indeed sometimes point- 
ed out, by the jays, blackbirds, crows, mag- 
pies, and other birds, which consider him 
as their common enemy. When attacked 
he fights in silence, but with astonishing 
courage, regardless of pain, and rarely quit- 
ting his hold. When seized by the hounds 
it is rarely that he cries out; though he 
snarls and snaps with peculiar expression, 
and indescribable ferocity. 
It is highly nfecessary in training fox- 
hounds, to keep them entirely to the pur- 
suit of foxes : if suffered once to follow a 
hare, their staunchness will be in danger of 
diminution. A hound for this sport should 
be of rather a large size, full of blood, light 
but strong in the limbs, great speed, and of 
distinguished perseverance. If deficient in 
either of these requisites he must be drawn. 
He may make a good harrier, under certain 
circumstances, but will be a great detriment 
to the fox-pack. Nor is the keenness of 
scent an object of less importance; indeed, 
it is of more moment than among harriers ; 
for the fox will play off" an infinity of de-- 
vices, especially that of running on a dusty 
road, crossing broad waters, springing over 
wide ditches, passing along the copings of 
park-walls, &c. that acquire an acute sense 
of smelling to defeat: add to this, he is 
often a mile a-head of the hounds, whereby 
the trail loses greatly of its strength. 
In following fox-hounds, the sportsman 
has little time for deliberation: he must 
keep up as well as he can, taking care to 
keep the cry in hearing, afid avoiding leaps 
and scrambles as much as he can. It is true, 
this doctrine is by many held to be effemi- 
nate, and unbecoming the keen hunter ; 
but it is the way to be in at the death, and 
to enjoy the chase without injuring the 
horse. Fox-hounds spread much more than 
harriers, on account of the diversity of 
country they run through : hence there is 
often a mile, or more, between the first and 
last dog ; considering even the hindmost as 
well laid in, and rejecting such as are faulty. 
With regard to the extent of riders, no com- 
putation can be offered ; it sometimes reach- 
ing from the place where the game started, 
to where it died, or was lost. 
Foxes are wonderfully sagacious; they 
have been carried sixty and seventy miles 
in hampers, for the purpose of being hunt- 
ed by some distant pack ; and after escap- 
ing, in various successive instances, have 
been retaken at their original haunts. This 
seems to prove that foxes are great ram- 
blers, and are in general well acquainted 
with a vei'y large tract around their usual 
haunts. Perhaps the following may show 
their great cunning I)etter tlian any instance 
hitherto offered to the public : it is taken 
from Daniel’s “ Rural Sports,” and is con- 
sidered to be strictly correct. “A fox 
being hard run took shelter under the 
covering of a well, and by the endeavours 
used to extricate him, was precipitated 
to the bottom, a deptli of one hundred 
feet. The bucket was let down, he laid 
hold of it, and was drawn up for some way, 
when he again fell. The bucket being let 
down a second time, he sectired his situation 
in it, was drawn up, again turned off, and 
fairly beat the hounds.” This occurrence 
is said to be well known at Iraber, in Wilt- 
shire, where tlie well is often shown to the 
curious. 
Wolf-hunting, fortunately for the inha- 
bitants of Britain and Ireland, is now be- 
