190 ON THE HABITS OF THE HOOLOCK. (Pebuli, 
conclusions can be drawn from the habits of captured specimens, 
nor can we recognize as a rule substances in the stomach of shot 
specimens, as we can in the crop in the case of birds. My own 
observations lead me to believe that fruits and the succulent shoots 
of young bamboos and other trees form the bulk of their diet. 
They will certainly catch and eat certain spiders; but I have 
invariably found them to refuse such insects as moths or butter- 
flies, perhaps because many such insects have a bitter taste. Hggs, 
too, I found they would not eat. If you give an insect or a small 
bird to a Hoolock he will certainly pull it to pieces, and possibly 
taste or bite it, but it by no means follows that it is one of the 
regular dishes he enjoys in his wild life. 
The following list of leaves and shoots which are eaten by the 
Hoolock is given by Anderson :—Morugo pterygosperma, Spondias 
manifera, Kicus religiosa, Beta vulgaris, Ipomea reptans, Canna 
imdica. 
I hope later on to supplement these short notes with some 
anatomical observations on weight of brain relative to body, and on 
the number and depth of the convolutions. But this is a matter 
of time, for specimens are not very readily obtained. The Hindoo 
coolies, who form the bulk of the population in the tea-districts 
of Cachar, will never kill a Hoolock. The Kuki tribes in the 
Cachar Hills, on the other hand, kill and eat them, and regard 
them as somewhat of a delicacy, I believe. But even a Kuki finds 
it difficult to get a shot at these creatures, so shy are they and so 
active in their movements. 
