i86 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



a diameter of about a couple of feet. Apparently the sole use 

 of this nest is as a nursery, and in it at the proper season 

 the female brings forth a solitary offspring whether born 

 naked or clothed with hair does not seem to be ascertained. 

 The female alone builds the nest, which is placed securely 

 in the fork of a tree. 



In addition to the use described above, the attenuated 

 middle finger is employed to comb the hair and clean the 

 eyes, mouth, and nose ; the animal, when thus engaged, 

 generally suspending itself head-downwards from a bough 

 by its hind-feet ; at any rate, this is the case in captivity. 

 As a rule, the food is not held in the paws, after the 

 usual monkey and lemur fashion, although the act of 

 drinking is performed in an ape-like manner, the fingers 

 being first dipped in water and then sucked. 



Besides the boring larvae already alluded to, it is certain 

 that the aye-aye will eat various other kinds of food, 

 although native accounts differ to a considerable extent on 

 this point. Some say, for instance, that it subsists largely 

 on birds and their eggs, while others assert that honey is 

 its favourite food. Probably there is some degree of truth 

 in all these accounts, and that the creature is to a certain 

 extent omnivorous. It will eat sugar-cane with considerable 

 gusto, and in captivity has been known to take bananas. 

 But that these latter are not its natural food would seem to 

 be evident from the fact that they stick in and clog its teeth. 



As regards its distribution, the aye-aye is a very local 

 animal ; its chief habitat being the great forest clothing the 

 eastern border of the great central plateau of the island. 

 Here, however, it is apparently restricted to the district 

 forming the confines of the provinces of Sihanaka and 

 Betsimisaraka, which is situate about five-and-twenty miles 

 inland in latitude 17 22' S. I am, however, informed by 



