Ornithological and Other Oddities 



which he duly called, and he also hung about 

 the refreshment-bar in hopes of donations from 

 visitors. He got his drink in quite a natural way, 

 by sliding down a bough overhanging a pond, and 

 dipping it up with his hand. In some indoor 

 monkey-houses two female gibbons were con- 

 fined, and he used to pay visits to both of them, 

 and exchange confidences through the bars. I 

 do not know if the worry of this double menage 

 affected his temper, but ultimately he became 

 vicious, and had to be permanently shut up. He 

 had undergone a short term of confinement some 

 time before for a rather peculiar offence. He was 

 wont to extend his rambles outside the gardens, 

 finding the telegraph-wires a very convenient 

 road, and he went on one occasion to Belvedere, 

 the Lieutenant - Governor's residence, and tore 

 down the British flag. However, confinement 

 apparently made him reconsider these seditious 

 ideas, and he never repeated the offence when 

 subsequently released. 



An anthropoid frequently imported to Calcutta 

 was the orang-utan, and this animal has always 

 attracted my attention, as it is the most human in 

 some ways of all the great apes. Its figure cer- 

 tainly falls lamentably short of our ideas of beauty 

 — the gorilla is quite elegant by comparison — but 

 there is something almost painfully human about 



the creature's face, and the variety of expressions 



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