* Harling ' Rabbits. 35 



the hawk's eye can hardly be surpassed : full, liquid, 

 and piercing. In this way the keeper's boy often 

 gets a stray shilling ; also for young owls, which are 

 still kept in some country houses, in the sheds or 

 barns, to destroy the mice. When the corn was 

 threshed with the flail, and was consequently exposed 

 to the ravages of these creatures (if undisturbed they 

 multiply in such numbers as would scarcely be 

 credited) owls were almost domestic birds, being 

 domiciled in every barn. Now they are more objects 

 of curiosity, though still useful when large teams of 

 horses are kept and require grain. 



The keeper's boy sells, too, young squirrels from 

 time to time, and the eggs of the rarer birds. In 

 short, he has imbibed all the ways of the woods, and 

 is an adept at everything, from ' harling ' a rabbit 

 upwards. By-the-bye, what is the etymology of 

 ' harling,' which seems to have the sense of en- 

 tangling ? It is done by passing the blade of the 

 knife between the bone of the thigh and the great 

 sinew — where there is nothing but skin — and then 

 thrusting the other foot through the hole thus made. 

 The rabbit or hare can then be conveniently carried 

 by the loop thus formed, or slung on a stick or 

 the gun-barrel across the shoulder. Of course the 

 1 harling ' is not done till the animal is dead. 



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