14 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



In its natural state, however, the Gibbon can seldom come to the 

 ground, as it is a thoroughly arboreal animal, travelling among the trees 

 and bamboos by swinging itself along with its great arms. The beauty 

 of its movements must be seen to be realised ; it is the champion gymnast 

 of the animal kingdom, and one never tires of admiring the grace of its 

 swinging leaps and the sureness of its hold, even in the confined limits 

 of a menagerie. "Taking off" from one hand, it will throw itself half- 

 a-dozen yards merely touch, as it seems, with the other hand, swing off 

 again, and so on for an hour at a time. Its powers are seen at their 

 best when a troop is descending a hill-side clothed with bamboos, and it 

 flings itself from one bending stem to another lower down, thus getting 

 down-hill at a marvellous pace. They also ascend very rapidly, and from 

 the hilly nature of their haunts have to go up and down a great deal, 

 especially as, in many cases, they retire to the low warm valleys to sleep, 

 and come uphill in the morning to feed. They do not build nests like 

 the great apes, simply roosting on the boughs like ordinary monkeys, 

 none of which have any notion of nest-building. 



Their food consists not only of leaves, shoots, wild fruit, and so 

 forth, but also to a great extent of insects, spiders, the eggs of small 

 birds, and even the birds themselves. These may be even captured 

 on the wing at times, for a specimen of the allied Silvery Gibbon 

 (Hylobates leuciscus) in captivity has been seen to take a flying bird 

 with one hand as she swung from one perch to another, her landing 

 not being in the least disturbed by the feat performed en route. 



Water is drunk by the Hoolock in rather a peculiar way; it dips 

 its hand in, and licks off the drops, often sliding down a bough to do 

 this. This way of drinking is characteristic of Gibbons generally ; but 

 the animal also drinks by putting down its mouth in the ordinary way. 

 An early observer records, by the way, that he has seen the female 

 of some Gibbon take her young one to the water and wash its face, 

 in spite of its fractious objections to the process. The young are 

 habitually carried clinging to the parent, maintaining their hold securely 

 during all its gymnastic performances. 



The Hoolock appears to be quite unable to swim ; when in deep 



