84 SLOW LEMUR. 
Whenever water was offered, it contented itself 
with smelling it, without drinking. It was pas- 
sionately fond of eggs. It often made use of 
its hands in eating, in the manner of a squirrel. 
I concluded from its eating eggs, that it would 
also eat birds; and accordingly having given it a 
live sparrow, it immediately killed it with a bite, 
and very greedily eat the whole. Curious to 
know whether insects would also suit its taste, I 
gave it a live cockchaffer, which it took in its 
paw and devoured completely. I afterwards gave 
it a chaffinch, which it also eat with a good appe- 
tite, after which it slept the remainder of the day. 
I have often seen him still awake at two hours 
after midnight; but from half past six in the 
morning he was always in a profound sleep, so 
that his cage might be cleaned without disturbing 
his repose. During the day, being awaked by 
force in order to provoke him, he was angry, and 
bit the stick, but with a very slow motion, and 
with a reiterated cry of ai, ai, ai, lengthening out 
the ai each time into a plaintive, languid, and 
tremulous sound, in the same manner as is re- 
ported of the Sloths of America. After having 
been thus teized for a long time, and thoroughly 
awakened, he crawled two or three times round 
the cage, and immediately slept again." 
This slowness of motion and plaintive cry made 
Mr. Vosmaer consider the animal as a species of 
Sloth ; but it has no other affinity with the Sloths, 
nor can it be placed in the same genus. It forms 
a most curious contrast in this respect to that 
