160 HYLOBATES 
pound; * * * Several such tame Hoolocks I have had the oppor- 
tunity of observing for some months past. Often they will be away 
in the tree tops for days together, when nothing will tempt them down, 
but when one chooses to be sociable he will come and sit on the arm 
of your chair at breakfast, and never reach or snatch things off the 
table, in fact his manners are unexceptionable, and he keeps his skin 
beautifully clean. At sunset you may see him settle down to sleep, 
jammed tight in the fork of a tree in a squatting position. In this 
semi-domesticated state I notice that the Hoolock seldom uses his voice. 
I suppose, leading a solitary bachelor life, he finds no necessity for 
chattering or calling. | 
“With regard to the diet of the Hoolock, Dr. Blanford gives a 
long list, including fruit, leaves, young shoots, spiders, insects, birds, 
eggs and young birds. But it seems to me the diet of such shy creatures 
must be largely a matter of conjecture, for no certain conclusions can 
be drawn from the habits of captured specimens, nor can we recognize 
as a rule substances in the stomachs 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 butterflies, perhaps because many such insects 
have a bitter taste. Eggs too, I found they will not eat. If you 
give an insect or 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. 
“When captured young the Hoolock is easily tamed, and is gentle, 
good-tempered, very intelligent and cleanly in its habits. It is, how- 
ever, very delicate, and does not live long in captivity. The female 
gives birth to a single young, but as regards the period of gestation 
but little is known.” 
Anderston states, (1. c.) that “the Hoolock is common on the 
Kakhyen hills, on the eastern frontier of Yunnan, and there, too, my 
attention was called to them at daybreak when they passed up from 
their sheltered sheeping-ground in the deep and warm valleys to a 
height of about 4,000 feet. We, in the middle distance, first caught 
a faint murmur of voices; but every minute it became more and 
more distinct, till at last the whole troupe rushed past in a storm of 
sound, vociferating ‘whoko’ ‘whoko!’ and in a few minutes more 
