SIMIAD/E. 



431 



catching apples or plums, purposely thrown at her : however quickly 

 they may be propelled by a vigorous arm, and although pretended 

 throws may be made, to deceive or balk her, she never fails to catch the 

 fruit, and that almost without an effort. 



Toward men, this animal is reserved ; and it is only by degrees that 

 she becomes familiar with them: she is much less distrustful towards 

 females, and seems greatly to prefer their presence. It is not unlikely that 

 circumstances subsequent to her capture may have caused this peculiarity 

 of disposition. This aversion to men has not been observed in any of the 

 Gibbons living in the menagerie of the Zoological Society of London ; 

 and, in this instance, it is undoubtedly the effect of severe treatment by 

 those who, at some period, have had the care of her. 



The voice of this Gibbon is extraordinary, not only for its power and 

 volume, but for the succession of graduated tones in which its cry is 

 uttered. In a room, it is overpowering and deafening : it consists 

 of a repetition of the syllables oo-ah, oo-ah, at first distinctly repeated, 

 and ascending in the scale, but at last ending in a shake, consisting of a 

 quick vibratory series of descending notes, during which the whole of the 

 animal's frame quivers with the effort to produce them : after this, she 

 appears to be greatly excited, and violently shakes the netting or the branch 

 to which she may be clinging ; which action being finished, she again 

 traverses her cage, uttering the preliminary syllables oo-ah, oo-ah, till the 

 shake again concludes the series. It is principally in the morning that the 

 animal thus exerts this modulated cry, which is, probably, its natural call 

 to its mate, and which, from its strength, is well calculated for resounding 

 through the vast forests. The following observations on the voice of 

 this animal were obligingly presented to the Author, by Mr. Waterhouse : 



" I should endeavour to give an idea of the whooping of the Gibbon (as 

 far as the music is concerned, but not as regards the quality of sound), 

 by comparing it to the tuning of a harp ; first beginning with an E string, 

 and repeating it at short intervals ; then being altogether silent for a little 

 time, and then beginning again ; next, two strings, as it were, are struck, 

 E and E sharp (or F natural) : the second string is then screwed up, 

 by half-notes, until it reaches the octave ; the E and F natural, E and 

 F sharp, E and G natural, &c., being struck nearly together. It must 

 be observed, that, before the upper note arrives at the octave, the animal 

 amuses herself by occasionally descending a few semitones, then ascend- 

 ing again, and so on. But when the octave is once gained, and has been 

 sounded a few times, we may imagine the upper string to be very rapidly 

 let down by semitones ; the lower note remaining the same as at first, 

 and the two strings being always struck together.* The rapidity of the 



* It appears, all through this rapid chromatic passage, as if the animal emitted two notes at a 

 time, as in the music ; but this is the effect of the rapid transition from the lower note to the upper. 



