714 General Notes. [ November, 
had nothing to cut branches with. I have seen one or two such 
nests of men in the forest, where the builder had only his bare 
hands to work with, and they were just as rudely constructed, of 
just such materials, and in about the same position as the average 
orang nest. Upon this leafy platform the orang lies prone upon 
his back, with his long arms and short thick legs thrust outward 
and upward, firmly grasping, while he sleeps, the nearest large 
branches within his reach. n several occasions I surprised 
these animals upon their nests, and once I had an opportunity to 
watch an orang while it constructed its resting place. He never 
uses a nest after the leaves become withered and dry, no doubt 
because the bare branches are not comfortable to lie upon. I 
never saw or heard of any house-building by orang outangs. 
“We found the animals most numerous along the Simujan 
river, near its source. Our manner of hunting was to make trips 
up and down the river in our boat, paddling slowly and silently 
along, keeping a careful lookout. Sometimes in rounding a bend 
in the river we would come full upon a huge, black-faced, red- 
haired animal reposing quietly or feeding. I aimed to shoot 
them through the chest, and thus either kill them at once or dis- 
able them so that they would be unable to get away. On several 
occasions I succeeded in killing a large specimen with a single 
bullet. It would at all times have been an easy matter to have 
shot them through the head, but this would have ruined the 
skulls. As soon as an orang was fired at, if not killed at once, 
he would begin climbing away with all haste. 
“I think we may fairly consider the orangs the most helpless 
of all quadrumana. Owing to the great weight of their bodies 
and the peculiar structure of their hands they cannot run nimbly 
along even the largest branches, and never dare to spring from 
one tree to the next. The weight of the adult male ranges from 
120 to 160 pounds. Owing to the disproportionate shortness of 
his legs, his progress depends mainly upon his long, sinewy arms, 
and very often he goes swinging through a tree top by their aid 
alone. Upon the ground orangs are a picture of the most abject 
helplessness, and in their native forest they are very seldom 
known to descend to the earth. They are utterly incapable of 
standing fully erect without touching the ground with their hands, 
and for them to be represented in drawings and museums aS _ 
standing erect, is contrary to nature.” Be Lo, 
In conclusion, Mr. Hornaday remarked: “ We will not say 
anything about the part of orangs in the long chain of evolution, 
for we feel that no one present will wish to admit his or her rela- 
tionship. But while abstract argument leads hither and thither, 
according as this or that writer is most ably gifted for argument, 
there is still one influence to which every true naturalist is amenable, 
and which no one will ignore who has studied from nature apy 
group of natural forms. Let such an one (if indeed such an Onè — 
