Licut.-Col. S. R. Ticki;ll on the Gibbon oj Tenasserim. 361 



suppose, from what you say of its paralysis, will not live long. 

 The one you have must have been about a year and a half old 

 when I sent it you. Doubtless captivity has checked its growth. 

 I give the dimensions taken of an adult one; but I think I have 

 seen them larger, and the males are larger than the females (as 

 in all monkeys). 



The Burmese and Talains never keep Monkeys of any kind as 

 pets. The Karens sometimes do. Of the Shans I cannot speak, 

 but being Buddhists they probably do not either. 



Hylobates Lar (Ogilby). 



The Hylobates Lar is found in great abundance in all the 

 forests skirting the hills which run from north to south through 

 the province of Tenasserim. They ascend the hills themselves 

 up to an elevation of 3000 to 3500 feet above the sea-level, but 

 not higKer, and are usually met with in parties of from eight to 

 twenty, composed of individuals of all ages. It is rare to see a 

 solitary one ; occasionally, however, an old male will stay apart 

 from the flock, perched on the summit of some vast tree, whence 

 his howls arc heard for miles around. The forests which these 

 animals inhabit resound with their cries from sunrise to about 

 9 A.M., the sounds varying from the deep notes of the adult 

 to the sharp treble of the young ones. During these vocal 

 efforts they appear to resort to the extreme summits of the 

 loftiest trees, and to call to each other from distant parts of the 

 jungle. After 9 or 10 a.m. they become silent and are engaged 

 feeding on fruit, young leaves, buds, shoots, and insects, for 

 which they will occasionally come to the ground. When ap- 

 proached, if alone, they will sometimes sit close, doubled up in 

 a thick tuft of foliage, or behind the fork of a tree near the top, 

 »o screened as to be quite safe from the shot of the sportsman. 

 But indeed, when forced from its concealment and put to flight, 

 the Gibbon is not easily shot. It swings from branch to branch 

 with its long arms, shaking the boughs all around, flings itself 

 from prodigious heights into denser foliage, and is quickly con- 

 cealed from view by intervening trees. 



If hit, there is no animal more tenacious of life, and its eflForts 

 w hen desperately wounded to cling to the branch and drag itself 

 into some fork or nook where to hitch itself and die excite 

 amusement and compassion. 



The Gibbon (if we restrict that name to this species) is not 

 nearly so light and active as its congener, H. Hoolock (the "Too- 

 boung" of the Arakanese), which latter species is not liable to 

 vary in colour, being always black, with the hands and feet con- 

 colorous, and the supercilia only white, instead of a circle of 

 that colour all round the face. The Gibbon, moreover, walks 



