8 THE MAMMALS OF SOMALILAND 



habits. It appears to spend the day in holes in trees, emerging 

 about sunset to feed. Its food consists of the seeds of the " gurha " 

 tree, insects, and probably the fruit of the " gob " tree. It is always 

 found living in the tall acacia trees (" gurha " and " wadi ") so 

 common along the large riverbeds, such as are seen at Odweina 

 and Hargeisa. They also probably eat the grape-like fruit of the 

 " Armo " creeper. I chased one of these lemurs one evening at 

 Hargeisa. It was feeding on the ground, and, as soon as it 

 sighted me, started jumping towards me, when suddenly, taking a 

 leap, it seized the hanging branch of an acacia, about three or four 

 feet from the ground, and disappeared, as if by magic, among its 

 branches. I carefully searched the tree with my gun-bearer for 

 about a quarter of an hour, but we never detected its whereabouts. 

 The tree was not more than fifteen to twenty feet in height, and it 

 had no holes in its trunk or branches. They must be adepts at the 

 art of concealing themselves. 



They probably live on insects in the dry weather, for at certain 

 seasons there is no fruit on the " gob " trees. At Odweina, 

 practically the only trees along the river bed are the huge 

 " gurha " and " gob " trees, so there, at any rate, they must subsist 

 for months on insects alone. They are seen singly or in pairs, 

 usually the latter. They breed in March, just before the rains. 

 Soon after sundown they may be seen jumping from branch to 

 branch with lightning-like rapidity. A curious fact about this 

 lemur is its fondness for a particular tree. After one pair had been 

 shot in a certain tree at Odweina, another pair came and took up 

 their abode in the same tree and bred there. Why they selected 

 this particular tree it is difficult to say. Another peculiarity I 

 have noticed is that when the female is suckling its young, the 

 male is always conspicuous by its absence. 



