ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
them round and round the If he 
that a person was at all nervous about him, he 
loved running past them, and give them a 
smack on the leg—and you could see him grin 
as he did so. A game he was very fond of was 
to pretend that he was blind, shutting his eyes 
very tightly and running about the room knock- 
ing against tables and chairs. He loved to take 
everything out of a waste paper basket and 
strew the contents all over the room, after which 
he would always pick up everything and put 
it all back when told to, but looking very bored 
all the while. If the basket was very full he 
would push it all down very carefully to make 
room for more. He would always put things 
back when told to do so, such as books from a 
bookshelf, or things from a table. 
room. saw 
His table manners were really very good. 
He always sat at the table, and whenever a 
meal was ready, would pull his own chair up to 
his place. He did not care to eat a great quan- 
tity, but he especially liked to drink water out 
of a tumbler. I always gave him some butter 
with his breakfast, but he seldom liked bread. 
Sometimes he would take a whole crust or round 
of toast when you least expected him to do 
and eat it all. He always took afternoon tea— 
of which he was very fond—and a thin piece 
of bread with plenty of jam; and he always 
liked coffee after dinner. He was the least 
greedy of all the animals I ever have seen. 
He never would snatch anything and always ate 
very slowly. He always drank a lot of water, 
which he would get himself whenever he wanted 
it, by turning on a tap. Strange to say he always 
turned off the water when he had finished drink- 
ing. He seemed to thrive on water, and this 
never prevented his taking his milk as well. 
John seemed to think that everyone was de- 
lighted to see him, and he used to throw up the 
window whenever he was permitted. If he found 
the sash locked he would unfasten it and when 
a big crowd collected outside he would clap 
his chest and his hands. He was especially 
fond of children, and would always put out his 
hand in an appealing fashion and grunt with 
pleasure. When told to do so, he would always 
come in, shut the window and lock it. 
He was especially fond of my little niece, 
three years old, who used to come with her 
mother to stay. John and she used to play 
together for hours and he seemed to understand 
what she wanted him to do. If she ever cried, 
and her mother would go and pick her up, John 
would always try and nip the mother or give 
her a smack with the full weight of his hands, 
evidently thinking that she was the cause of 
the child’s tears. 
121 
One day we were going out, for which I was 
sitting ready dressed, when John wished to sit 
on my lap. My sister, Mrs. Penny, said: 
“Don’t let him, he will spoil your dress.” 
As my dress happened to be a light one I 
pushed him away and said, “No.” He at once 
lay on the floor and cried just like a child for 
about a minute. Then he looked round 
the room, found a newspaper, went and picked 
it up, spread it on my lap and climbed up. ‘This 
was quite the cleverest thing I ever saw him do. 
Even those who saw it said they would not have 
believed it had they not seen it themselves. 
Both my nephews (Major Penny and Mr. E. C. 
Penny), his wife and my sister (Mrs. Penny) 
were in the room and can testify to the correct- 
ness of the above record. 
rose, 
Another clever thing John did, although I 
suspect this was due more to instinct than down- 
right cleverness. A piece of filet beef steak 
had just come from the butcher. Inasmuch as 
occasionally I gave him a small mouthful of 
raw beef, a small piece of the coarser part of 
the steak was cut off, and I gave it to him. He 
tasted it, then gravely handed it back to me. 
Then he took my hand and put it on the finer 
part of the meat. From that I cut off a tiny 
piece, gave it to him, and he ate it. When my 
nephew came home he wouldn't believe it, so I 
tried it again, with the same result, except that 
then he did not even attempt to eat the coarser 
meat. 
John seemed to realize danger for other people 
in high places, for if any one looked out of a 
high window, he always pushed them away, 
if he were at the window himself, but if he was 
away from it he would run and pull them back. 
Our gorilla could stand a lot of cold, and we 
often let him go on the roof in freezing weather. 
This he did not seem to mind as long as he 
could come into a warm room when he wanted to. 
He would then go straight to the fire, rub his 
chest and sit down with his feet right on the 
fender. The one thing, however, he could not 
stand was dampness during the winter, or any 
draught.* 
We found that exercise was the thing he 
required to keep him in health, and my nephew 
used to give him a great deal of that by playing 
hide and seek with him in the morning before 
breakfast, and in the evening before dinner— 
up and down stairs, in and out of all rooms. 
He simply loved that game, and he would giggle 
and laugh while being chased. But he was very 
*In the New York Zoological Park the terror of the 
animals and the animal man-is the cold dampness of 
wet weather in winter.—Kd. 
