SEMNOPITHECT7S. 29 



I also doubt the details of the story, quoted, like the last, from 

 the ' Bengal Sporting Magazine ' for 1836, of combats between the 

 males for tbe possession of the females. But the occurrence of 

 fights amongst these animals rests on good evidence. Mr. T. H. 

 Hughes (Proc. A. S. B. 1884, p. 147) described a combat, witnessed 

 by himself in April, between two communities of Hanurnans, 

 apparently for the possession of a mango-grove. Only the 

 champion males of each flock engaged at first, two from the larger 

 flock, one from the smaller ; but after one of the former had been 

 killed, his throat being torn open by his adversary's teeth, two 

 females came to the assistance of the survivor, and the single 

 champion of the opposite side was mortally wounded, whereupon 

 several of the weaker flock appeared to be taken prisoners by the 

 others. The whole account is very interesting. 



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

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

 favourite 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 and precision from branch to branch, and when pressed 

 take most astonishing jumps. I have seen them cross from tree 

 to tree, a space of 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 " (Jerdm). 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 leaping, 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 is 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 to the tiger-hunter, amongst whose best friends is the 

 Hanuman. Safely esconced 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 a sure indication of 

 a tiger or leopard having been seen, whereas the monkeys quite as 

 often utter it merely as an expression of surprise ; I have heard it 

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

 frequently due to the monkeys catching sight of men. 



In confinement the Hanuman is, as Jerdon says, quite sedate 



