[f. CALL v. + -ING2.] That calls, cries, summons, etc.: in various senses of the verb.
1634. Milton, Comus, 207. Calling, shapes, and beckoning shadows dire.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, x. Joey B., Sir, is not in general a calling man.
b. spec. in names of some animals: Calling crab, a tropical genus of Land-crabs (Gelasimus) having one very large claw, which the animal extends, as if beckoning, but really in menace; Calling hare, a rodent genus (Lagomys) nearly allied to the Hare, found in Siberia and other countries, and noted for their peculiar loud sonorous call or note.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), I. 411. The calling hare. These are solitary animals, and rarely to be seen.
1847. Carpenter, Zool., § 786. Some of the Land-Crabs are remarkable for the inequality in the size of their claws; the larger is sometimes held up in a beckoning attitude, whence the name of Calling-Crabs.
1849. Sk. Nat. Hist., Mammalia, IV. 162. The dwarf pika, or calling-hare, is found in the southeast parts of Russia.
