Perhaps I have given the impression that the hounds and foxes of old were similar to those hunted pre-ban. This is not so, the hounds are similar but the foxes were completely different. Richard Clapham's book will provide a better explanation than I can give, but the foxes were of a type known as the Greyhound. These were larger than the little brown jobs of today and fewer in number living in the main on the very high fell. That the numbers were lower is suggested by the low numbers accounted for at the time. They produced longer 'runs' than today's foxes and were unafraid of terriers underground; they were even known to face a hound on a one to one on the surface. By the turn of the century they were in severe decline, 'ousted ' by the red fox we see today, so by 1915 they were so uncommon that a sighting was worthy of written record.

Finally, to deal with a difficult subject, hounds at one time did not 'break up' their fox, being content to 'give it a nip' to dispatch it. This is proven by the weights collected and pictures showing the huntsman holding the carcass aloft. It was with the introduction of 'southern blood' to the fell packs that the breaking up of foxes began.