leO HYLOBATES 



pound ; * * * Several such tame Hoolocks I have had the oppor- 

 tunity of observing for some months past. Often they will be away 

 in the tree tops for days together, when nothing will tempt them down, 

 but when one chooses to be sociable he will come and sit on the arm 

 of your chair at breakfast, and never reach or snatch things off the 

 table, in fact his manners are unexceptionable, and he keeps his skin 

 beautifully clean. At sunset you may see him settle down to sleep, 

 jammed tight in the fork of a tree in a squatting position. In this 

 semi-domesticated state I notice that the Hoolock seldom uses his voice. 

 I suppose, leading a solitary bachelor life, he finds no necessity for 

 chattering or calling. 



"With regard to the diet of the Hoolock, Dr. Blanford gives a 

 long list, including fruit, leaves, young shoots, spiders, insects, birds, 

 eggs and young birds. But it seems to me the diet of such shy creatures 

 must be largely a matter of conjecture, for no certain conclusions can 

 be drawn from the habits of captured specimens, nor can we recognize 

 as a rule substances in the stomachs of shot specimens, as we can 

 in the crop in the case of birds. My own observations lead me to 

 believe that fruits and the succulent shoots of young bamboos and 

 other trees form the bulk of their diet. They will certainly catch 

 and eat certain spiders ; but I have invariably found them to refuse 

 such insects as moths or butterflies, perhaps because many such insects 

 have a bitter taste. Eggs too, I found they will not eat. If you 

 give an insect or small bird to a Hoolock he will certainly pull it to 

 pieces, and possibly taste or bite it, but it by no means follows that it 

 is one of the regular dishes he enjoys in his wild life. 



"When captured young the Hoolock is easily tamed, and is gentle, 

 good-tempered, very intelligent and cleanly in its habits. It is, how- 

 ever, very delicate, and does not live long in captivity. The female 

 gives birth to' a single young, but as regards the period of gestation 

 but little is known." 



Anderston states, (1. c.) that "the Hoolock is common on the 

 Kakhyen hills, on the eastern frontier of Yunnan, and there, too, my 

 attention was called to them at daybreak when they passed up from 

 their sheltered sheep ing-ground in the deep and warm valleys to a 

 height of about 4,000 feet. We, in the middle distance, first caught 

 a faint murmur of voices; but every minute it became more and 

 more distinct, till at last the whole troupe rushed past in a storm of 

 sound, vociferating 'whoko' 'whoko!' and in a few minutes more 



