MAMMALS AS NEST BUILDERS 127 



that the great toes of the feet are opposable to the 

 remainder. With the exception of the great toes, 

 which possess flat nails, aU the digits are furnished 

 with claws — that upon the middle finger of either 

 hand being of exceptional length, and of such slender 

 proportions as to resemble a wire. These attenu- 

 ated claws are used by the creature when search- 

 ing for its food, first of all as an instrument for 

 tapping against the branches of trees in order to 

 discover if any larvae of beetles or other forms of 

 insect life are hidden within, and, secondly, as a 

 probe for removing them from their hiding-places 

 when once they are discovered. 



In addition to a diet of grubs, the animal also 

 feeds upon sugar-cane and the pith of bamboos, 

 while those that the writer has known would readily 

 feast upon an orange or a marrow-bone. 



When negotiating the former, the creature would 

 first of all bite a hole through the skin of the fruit 

 and then draw out the contents into its mouth 

 by means of its long claw- — little more than a hollow 

 sphere remaining when it had finished its meal. 



A fuUy -grown aye-aye may be compared in size 

 to a domestic cat. Its long and coarse fur is mostly 

 dark brown in colour, but that upon the large and 

 bushy tail is almost black. The creature's short 

 and round head is surmounted by a pair of enor- 

 mous forward-directed and upstanding ears which 

 are almost destitute of hair, whUe the large and 

 staring eyes are other features that add to the 

 animal's almost repulsive appearance. 



Nocturnal in habits, the aye-aye spends the 



