512 

 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— FOOD OF THE HOOLOCK OR WHITE-BROWED GIBBON. 



It may interest you to know that a tame Hoolock (Hylobates hoolock), 

 about 8 years old, kept by a friend of mine, ate some time ago two seed 

 capsules with the seeds of the common Datura (D. alba) with apparent relish 

 and without any visible ill-effects ; it is surely strange that a poison so 

 virulent to man does not affect an anthropoid ape ? 



J. C. H. MITCHELL. 



Tezpur, Assam, 8th April, 1910. 



[ Dr. A. Powell to whom we have referred the above case writes as follows : — 

 " Dhatura is not a ' virulent ' poison to man. It is mostly given by criminals with the 

 intention not of murdering but of facilitating robbery while the victim is in a state 

 of deep narcotic sleep. The vast majority of cases recover. 



Rabbits, apes and monkeys are scarcely affected, even by enormous doses of Dhatura 

 or Belladonna. ' One animal's meat is another's poison.' As a whole, carnivorous 

 are more sensitive than herbivorous animals to the common poisons. Thus, monkeys 

 and fowls are unaffected by doses of strychnine that would kill a pack of hounds. 

 Pigeons thrive on an exclusive diet of poppy seeds, and I doubt if they could be 

 poisoned by the largest doses of opium." — Eds.] 



No. II.— VITALITY OF A TIGER. 



Recently I had a very striking example of the extraordinary vitality of 

 a tiger. I got "khubber" of a kill and went to the place which was in a 

 patch of thatching grass on the top of a hill. While I was looking at the 

 kill the Tiger came out of the grass. I could only see his face at which I 

 fired using a -500 bore H. V. rifle, 80 grs. cordite, 576 grs. bullet. He went 

 over to the shot and lay on his back with the blood bubbling out of his nose 

 where the bullet had struck him. Thinking him dead and not wishing to spoil 

 the skin with another shot, I went off to send the elephant to have him carried 

 in. On our return about an hour later, he was not there, but from the blood 

 traces it was clear he had rolled into the adjoining nullah. As it was late 

 in the evening we postponed looking for him till next day, but, although we 

 found where he had lain all night and even put him up, I could not get him. 

 Some days after some Nagas brought me a chip of bone which appeared to 

 be a portion of a jaw with a fragment of a molar which they said they had 

 found in the jungle in a mass of fly blown pus at a spot where the tiger had 

 been lying up. 



Seven weeks later I got "khubber " of several kills of goats and finally of 

 a young heifer. I went to this last kill, and found the beast badly clawed 

 about the head with some very superficial punctures in the neck. I put it 

 down to a leopard and tied up a goat. In a few minutes a tiger came out 

 and I killed him with a 'SOS bullet in the brain. When skinning the tiger, 



