PYGATHRIX 89 



though apparently believed by Blyth and quoted by Jerdon, I agree with 

 Hutton in regarding as fictitious, though, as the latter observer justly 

 remarks, females with very young offspring may keep together and 

 temporarily apart from the remainder of the troup to which they 

 belong. 



"Away from villages, the high trees on the banks of streams or 

 tanks, and, in parts of Central India, rocky hills are the favorite 

 haunts of these monkeys. They are never found at a great distance 

 from water. Whether on trees, on rocks, or on the ground they are 

 exceedingly active. 'They leap with surprising agility from branch to 

 branch, and when pressed take most astonishing jumps. I have seen 

 them cross from tree to tree, a space 20 to 30 feet wide, with perhaps 

 40 or 50 feet in descent. They can run on all fours with considerable 

 rapidity, taking long strides or rather bounds' (Jerdon). They leap 

 from rock to rock as readily as from tree to tree. But great as their 

 apparent speed is, McMaster found that on horseback he easily ran 

 down a large male in a very short distance; indeed it is their power 

 of bounding and the remarkable appearance they present whilst leap- 

 ing, with their long tails turned over their backs, that convey the idea 

 of speed, rather than the actual rapidity of their motions. 



"Their voice is loud and often heard, especially in the morning 

 and evening. The two commonest sounds emitted by them are a loud, 

 joyous rather musical call, a kind of whoop, generally uttered when 

 they are bounding from tree to tree, and a harsh guttural note, denoting 

 alarm or anger. The latter is the cry familiar ..o the tiger hunter, 

 amongst whose best friends is the Hanuman. Safely ensconced in a 

 lofty tree, or jumping from one tree to another as the tiger moves, the 

 monkey by gesture and cry points out the position of his deadly 

 enemy in the bushes or grass beneath, and swears at him heartily. 

 It is marvellous to observe how these monkeys, even in the wildest 

 forests, where human beings are rarely seen, appear to recognize the 

 men as their friends, at least as allies against the tiger. It is a common 

 but erroneous notion of sportsmen that this guttural cry is the sure 

 indication of a tiger or leopard having been seen, whereas the monkey 

 quite as often utters it merely as an expression of surprise. I have 

 heard it caused by the sight of deer running away, and I believe it 

 is frequently due to the monkeys catching sight of men. In confine- 

 ment the Hanuman is, as Jerdon says, quite sedate and indolent. Older 

 animals are not infrequently morose and savage. None of this group 

 are so docile or so amusing as the Macaci, and even in the wild state, 

 the Hanuman appears quieter, less possessed by an insatiable curiosity, 



