ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



953 



FLYING LEMUR PROGRESSING ON THE GROUND 



a large, irregularly draped figure, topped with 

 a fox-like head, creeping slowly up the trunk. 

 When later I examined some of these animals 

 closely I found that the Flying Lemurs, for 

 such they were, had man}- interesting traits and 

 characters. Like certain owls they exhibit two 

 distinct color phases — a rufous and a grey, in- 

 dependent of age or sex. The rufous phase is 

 much rarer, as far as my experience goes, only 

 about one in a dozen individuals being of this 

 warmer hue. 



The first adult female which I secured was 

 of a beautiful pale grey with irregular lichen- 

 like mottlings and linings, forming an indefinite 

 marbled pattern which made it almost invisible 

 by daylight against the trunk of a jungle tree. 



The great hazel eyes are over half an inch 

 across; the keen little fox-like muzzle is always 

 sniffing for scent of danger, and the wonderful 

 soft flight membrane stretched even beyond the 

 tips of the fingers and toes. When the flight 

 is watched carefully, as silhouetted against the 

 clear evening sky, there seems to be a very 

 decided flapping, sometimes almost like the slow 

 flaps of the great flying-fox bats. But repeated 

 careful observation revealed that at each flap 

 or convulsive movement in mid-air the direc- 

 tion was slightly changed, and I am certain that 

 the movement was rather for balancing or steer- 

 ing, than an effort to increase the speed. I do 

 not believe the latter feat is possible. At the 

 end of the flight there is very often, although 

 not invariably, a decided upward swoop to the 

 point of alighting. 



In Kashmir I found the koklass pheasants 

 associated with the giant flying squirrels, and 



here the crestless firebacks lived in the same 

 woods with the Flying Lemurs. 



Toward the end of our stay at one of Rajah 

 Brooke's bungalows, a tree was felled not far 

 away, and from among the branches near the 

 top (not in a cavity) there rolled a young Fly- 

 ing Lemur. Although it was of fair size and 

 had a full set of teeth it was wholly incapable 

 of flight. When placed on the grass in the 

 sunshine, it lifts itself up and looks about, then 

 proceeds by hops, or more exactly flops, toward 

 the nearest bush or tree. After each flop, it 

 comes down in a peculiar spread-eagle posi- 

 tion. The helplessness of this specialized 

 animal when upon a flat surface is almost 

 equal to that of a bat. Its terrestial movements 

 recall vividly the mode of progression of a seal. 

 When it reaches the stem of a plant it climbs 

 at once, one hand over the other, not by grip- 

 ping the stem, even if this is a very thin one. 

 but by sheer catching power of the claws. 

 When it reaches the shade of a bunch of leaves 

 it puts the two fore feet together, and the two 

 hind feet, and crouches close to the stem or 

 trunk. 



In the sunshine its pupils contract to very 

 small openings, and the light is evidently pain- 

 ful, as it turns aside its head and does its best 

 to get into the shade. It will not stay head 

 downward for a moment, but does not object 

 to a sloth-like pose. The vertical clinging is 

 the one that suits it best, however. 



When smoothed or teased, or disturbed hi any 

 way it utters a rasping, complaining cry, very 

 like the voice of a disturbed flying fox under 

 similar conditions, somewhat like a small saw 



YOUNG FLYING LEMUR 



