Francis Barlow's skill in drawing animals and birds encouraged him to produce several different series of animal studies, some of which were used as manuals for artists and artisans in fields such as metalwork and ceramics, where the opportunities to draw from life a lion or an eagle would have been all too rare. In 1671 Barlow made a series of drawings for a folio volume entitled 'Severall Ways of Hunting, Hawking and Fishing according to the English Manner', etched by Wenceslaus Hollar and printed by John Overton. 1671 was the year in which a law was passed prohibiting freeholders of under £100 from killing game on their own land, and the subject was clearly a matter of much debate. Barlow's plates for this volume show the delight taken by country gentlemen in hunting the stags, foxes, rabbits and otters which were the object of their sport. This drawing may well have been a preparatory study for this series.