136 BOTANIC GAKDENS MENAGERIE. 



animal dislikes captivity at all, it is easily seen. It mopes, or 

 is restless, feeds only when no one is by, and is certain- to 

 pine away soon. The big civets Viverra tangalunga and 

 Pagurus lencomystax particularly dislike a bright cage. Be- 

 ing nocturnal animals, only coming out after dusk, the light 

 annoys them very much and the Viverras dislike being look- 

 ed at by a crowd of people and become very nervous. To 

 put these animals in a fine open cage that looks nice from a 

 popular point of view is cruel. The cages should be half dark, 

 when the animals do very well and live for many years. 

 Curiously some animals and birds much prefer small cages to 

 large ones. Some love birds (Loricula galgulus) were put in 

 an ornamental canary-cage, which one would have thought 

 they preferred to the round rattan cages in which the Malays 

 keep them and in which their heads nearly touch the top. 

 This did not suit them at all, and nearly all died in a few days. 

 The remaining two were put back in the Bamboo cage and 

 lived quite well and happy. 



The only way of knowing what an animal thinks is 

 comfortable and snug is to keep it and observe its ways. It 

 will soon let you know what it likes, which probably does not 

 at all fall in with your ideas of what it ought to like. 



An Account of Animals Kept. 



Quadrumana. 



Simia satyrus, L. The Mias. Orangoutan. 



This has often been on view. The animals are obtained 

 from Sumatra and Borneo and are usually young, but very 

 large adults have not seldom been brought to Singapore. 

 Young Mias are very quiet and tame, but full grown 

 adults are dangerous and require a very strong iron cage. 

 The animal is very delicate and liable to a disease resembl- 

 ing cholera which seems almost invariably fatal. A good 

 deal of the art of keeping one healthy consists in giv- 

 ing it a varied diet. Bread, boiled rice, pineapple, plantains, 

 eggs occasionally, sugarcane, kangkong (fyomea aquatica) or 

 some such green stuff suits it well. When young and not 



a Jour. Straits Branch 



