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themselves from one branch to another, forty feet asunder, 
startling as it is, may be well credited. Sometimes, on 
seizing a branch in her progress, she will throw herself, 
by the power of one arm only, completely round it, making 
a revolution with such rapidity as almost to deceive the eye, 
and continue her progress with undiminished velocity. It is 
singular to observe how suddenly this Gibbon can stop, 
when the impetus given by the rapidity and distance of her 
swinging leaps would seem to require a gradual abatement of 
her movements. In the very midst of her flight a branch is 
seized, the body raised, and she is seen, as if by magic, 
quietly seated on it, grasping it with her feet. As suddenly 
she again throws herself into action. 
“The following facts will convey some notion of her 
dexterity and quickness. A live bird was let loose in 
her apartment; she marked its flight, made a long swing to 
a distant branch, caught the bird with one hand in her 
passage, and attained the branch with her other hand; her 
aim, both at the bird and at the branch, being as successful 
as if one object only had engaged her attention. It may be 
added that she instantly bit off the head of the bird, picked 
its feathers, and then threw it down without attempting 
to eat it. 
“On another occasion this animal swung herself from 
a perch, across a passage at least twelve feet wide, against a 
window which it was thought would be immediately broken: 
but not so; to the surprise of all, she caught the narrow 
framework between the panes with her hand, in an instant 
attained the proper impetus, and sprang back again to the 
cage she had left—a feat requiring not only great strength, 
but the nicest precision.” 
The Gibbons appear to be naturally very gentle, but there 
is very good evidence that they will bite severely when irri- 
tated—a female Hylobates agilis having so severely lacerated 
one man with her long canines, that he died; while she had 
