HOW TO KNOW A GREAT HART 145 



by bones of the boar is this, for the bones of 

 the boar are nearer the talon than those of a 

 hart are, and also they are longer, and greater 

 and sharper in front. And therefore as soon as 

 the form of the traces of his foot is in the earth, 

 the form of the bones is there also, and commonly 

 a great boar maketh a longer trace with one of his 

 claws than with the other in front or behind, and 

 sometimes both. And when a man seeth the 

 tokens beforesaid greater, he may deem him 

 greater, and the smaller the trace, the smaller 

 the boar. The sow from the boar ye may know 

 well, for the sow maketh not so good a talon as 

 a right young boar doth. And also a sow's 

 claws are longer and sharper in front than a 

 young boar's. And also her traces are more 

 open in front and straighter behind, and the sole 

 of the foot is not so large as of a young boar, and 

 her bones are not so large nor so long, nor so far 

 the one from the other as those of a young boar, 

 nor go not so deep in the earth, for they be 

 small, and sharp and short, and nearer the one to 

 the other, than a young boar's. And these are the 

 tokens by the which men know a young boar so 

 that he be two year old from all sows, by the trace, 

 for that say I not of the young boars of sounder. 

 And if men ask him how he shall know a great 

 boar by his den, he may answer that if the den of 

 the boar be long and deep and broad, it is a token 



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