GIBBONS. 



4> 



gymnastics. While most of the gibbons only 

 scream and express their fear, excitement, or 

 anger in that way, the siamang is said actually 

 to sing and in fact to ascend the chromatic 

 scale through a whole octave; and of the 

 hoolock it is recorded, that it has a pleasant 

 melodious voice, although the sounds that 

 it emits cannot exactly be called singing. 

 That older individuals when caught be- 

 have violently, biting and scratching, and 

 that mothers, who are generally timid, 

 defend their young even at the .sacrifice 

 of their own lives, are too common phe- 

 nomena to call for any .special remark. 



The Hoolock i^Hylobates lencisais {.hoo- 

 lock)), of which an illustration is given, 

 fig. I, is perfectly black with the excep- 

 tion of a white fillet on the forehead, and 

 even its teeth are dark coloured. It is a 

 harmless creature, which prefers figs to 

 any other kind of food, and is fond of 

 roaming about in bamboo jungles. It 

 has no throat -pouch, but has a loud 

 voice. Unfortunately it does not live 

 long in captivity, since it is accustomed 

 to the moisture and heat of the low- 

 lying parts of Bengal and the Eastern 

 Peninsula. 



A contributor to Land and JFrt/^r (June 19, 

 1869) gives the following interesting account 

 of two hoolocks which he had kept while 

 resident in the north-east of India: — 



" I was lucky enough to purchase a very 

 young hoolock, which the one in my possession 

 [an adult female] immediately adopted, and on 

 the appearance of any danger it called it to 

 itself, opened its arms to receive it, and springing 

 with it into tlie nearest tree placed it in safety. 

 One day a servant brought to me a large snake 

 which he had killed, the sight of which caused 

 the hoolock intense emotion. It called the young 

 one to its arms, sprang up a ladder which was near 

 at hand, and commenced a series of short howls, 

 arching its eyebrows, and apparently calling the 

 attention of the young one to the dangerous enemy 

 in its vicinity. It refused to descend as long as the 

 snake was in sight. 



It played with the young one in the most inter- 



esting manner, ran after it, and dragged it about 

 by its arms and leg.s, pinched it and pulled its ears, 

 and the two would tumble heels over head on the 

 grass together like two school-boys. 



The young one was unfortunately strangled in 

 a tree by a string which was round its neck, and 

 the grief of its foster-mother was quite heart-rend- 

 ing. She examined it carefully, raised its lifeless 

 hands with her own, and dropped them in deep 



Fig. I. — The Hoolock (HylobaUs huciscus). 



despair. Again and again did she repeat the 

 action, and on the removal of the body from her 

 sight she sat disconsolately in the verandah, resting 

 her head on her hand, and never tasted food for 

 the remainder of the day. During the next morn- 

 ing she searched all the trees in the neighbourhood, 

 and crept in and out of the house in a dejected 

 manner, but in the evening she ate food and 

 returned to the ordinary pursuits of apish life." 



The same writer states on the authority of M. 

 Barbe, a Roman Catholic priest whose general 

 accuracy is asserted to be well vouched for, that 



