134 



ZOOLOGY. 



[Part II. 



approacli its prey so stealthily tliat it seizes birds before 

 they can be alarmed by its presence. The natives assert 

 that it has been known to strangle the pea-fowl at 

 night, and feast on the brain. During the day the 

 one which I kept was usually asleep in the strange po- 

 sition represented below ; its perch firmly grasped with 

 all hands, its back curved into a ball of soft fur, and its 

 head hidden deep between its legs. The singularly- 

 large and intense eyes of the loris have attracted the 



THE LOEIS 



attention of the Singhalese, who capture the creature 

 for the purpose of extracting them as charms and love- 

 potions, and this they are said to effect by holding the 

 little animal to the fire till its eyeballs burst. Its 

 Tamil name is theivangu, or " thin-bodied ; " and hence a 

 deformed child or an emaciated person has acquired 



