24 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July xi, 1903. 
havisted, came to the door of the cage and begged to 
be put back in her own compartment. 
At night Daisy carefully covered herself with a 
blanket, and when the keeper attempted to take it from 
her, she climbed to the top of the cage and hung it 
beyond his reach. She showed her contempt for chil- 
dreli by spitting ^t them, and when several Japanese 
marines came into the building, all of the apes be- 
canle greath- excited. Daisy shook the netting, "hoo 
hoped" loudly and spit at them, while her companions 
took up the cry, and for a time the house was a per- 
fect bedlam. 
When anxious to play Daisy greeted me by coming 
to the front of the cage and hammering on the wires, 
and if I failed to accept her challenge, she extended 
her hand, and when I attempted to take it, drew it 
back and thrust it through another opening further away. 
The keeper once entered the cage, fastened the door 
and left the keys in the lock. While he was busy one 
of the apes removed them, and mounting to the top of 
the cage, held him captive. It was necessary for a 
visitor to hand him a pole in order to frighten her into 
dropping the stolen property. 
When the keeper pointed to a stranger and called to 
them to "put him out," they both became greatly ex- 
cited. Screaming with rage they tried hard to reach 
the visitor, and no doubt if they had succeeded he 
would have been injured severely. After he had de- 
parted they were alert when anyone entered, lest it be 
the object of their former indignation. When scolded 
they usually retired to the back of the cage and cried, 
but as the keeper changed his voice to tones of for- 
giveness, they at once came to him,_ threw their arms 
about his neck and softly sobbed, acting as though they 
wanted to say, "We will never be bad again." 
During the period that I was studying in London 
two young chimpanzees, in emaciated condition, were 
received at the gardens. The first few weeks they 
spent cuddled in each others arms, as far from the 
gaze of visitors as their limited quarters would permit. 
For a long time their death was .^expected, but they 
gained strength through careful nursing by their 
keeper, Mr. Mansbridge, who fed them on beef tea, 
broth, gruel and fruit, and when I left they were in 
fine health. The expression of one was so suggestive 
that he was at once named "Mike." He was particu- 
larly fond of beef tea, and when the keeper approached 
with some, he eagerly took the cup, drained its con- 
tents and hurried across the cage to steal his com- 
panion's share, which, of course, the keeper would not 
allow; whereupon there was great wailing. 
A fine specimen of this species of ape in the Zoologi- 
cal Gardens at Antwerp, amused the visitors by clever 
tricks; but one antic that had never been taught it was 
to allow a large pigtail monkey to ride about the cage 
on its back; a comical sight, indeed. 
But to return to the London Zoological Gardens. Of 
all lazy, indolent creatures, Flora, a large orang-utan 
(Man-of-the- Woods in Malay language), held trumps. 
If she chanced to be at the back of the cage when I 
entered the room, rather than trouble herself to rise 
and walk to me, she rolled over and over until near 
enough to suck my finger. When disturbed by visitors 
she took her blanket and climbed to the roof of a 
small sheltered box, and carefully covered herself and 
slept. She wore a look of great responsibility, and 
when meals were not served to her liking she moved 
about restlessly and whined. 
But all orang-utans are not like Flora. Three which 
came into possession of the New York Zoological So- 
ciety when they were infants, were quite_ the reverse. 
They were received before proper buildings were 
erected for their accommodation, so they were placed 
in a stable heated for their special benefit. Beddmg 
was furnished for their comfort at night, and to a 
casual observer, the orangs, when sleeping, appeared 
like bundles of blankets, but if disturbed, three little 
red heads were uncovered and inquiring eyes asked if 
the intruder was a friend; when satisfied, a human be- 
ing could not have rearranged the covering more care- 
fully than they did. As cold weather set in, it became 
evident that the room could not be warmed sufficiently, 
so the orangs were removed to the director's residence. 
During the visit with him they were frequently given 
the liberty of the cellar; sometimes they pried a slat 
from their cage and took it without consent and at 
once started on an excursion of investigation and mis- 
chief. They tore down door bell wires, upset bottles 
and jars, and converted themselves into black apes by 
rummaging about in the coal bin. If the cellar door 
was left open their travels extended to other parts of 
' the house, and on one occasion the director's wife 
came suddenly upon an orang seated in the center of 
the dining table calmly helping herself from a dish of 
preserves. ■ » • - -.' 41^ 
At last the reptile house was so far completed that 
the orangs were transferred to the conservatory at the- 
west end of the building. Here they lived pending the 
construction of the small mammals' house. They had 
not been long in their new quarters when the boilers 
got out of order, and it became necessary to extinguish 
the fires during the repairs. It turned cold as soon as 
the work commenced, and at night the thermometer 
fell alarmingly low for the comfort and health of such 
delicate animals as anthropoid apes. About midnight 
the watchman woke me to report that the mercury in 
the conservatory registered sixty-seven and was falling 
rapidly. With a blanket I covered the cage contain- 
ing the two apes, while the other orang, Sadong, was 
taken back to share my bed for the rest of the night 
Placing her on the side nearest the wall, I settled 
myself for sleep. Sadong gazed about the room and 
became particularly interested in the head of a large 
mountain sheep, then she extended her long, _ scrawny 
arms and attempted to play with her shadow on the 
wall Tiring of this she amused herself by fondling 
my iiair, examining my ears, and several times gently 
touched the lids of my closed eyes with her fore finger. 
She was extremely timid and threw her arms about my 
neck and whimpered whenever I moved, fearing, no 
doubt, that I was going to leave her. Several times she 
attempted to rise, but I covered her with the bedding 
and spoke sharply, and as though she understood my 
meaning, she lay quiet and at last became accustomed 
to her surroundings and fell asleep. 
The washstand stood at the head of the bed and a 
pitcher of water on the end nearest to me. During the 
night I was awakened by a movement, and glancing up 
discovered that my little charge, having crawled from 
under the blankets — had started upon an exploring ex- 
pedition and was in the act of climbing upon the wash 
stand. At my sharp command she drew back, and in 
her fright caught the handle of the water pitcher, drag- 
ging it after her. Tlie contents struck squarely in my 
face. I jumped to my feet, the water streaming from 
my head and night clothes, while Sadong, one arm 
about my neck, the other clinging to my hair, nearly 
deafened me by her cri6s. She would not consent to 
be left alone, but while I changed the bed clothes, 
screamed, and clung tightly to me. I regret that no 
spectators were present to witness this ridiculous per- 
formance, for without exception it was the funniest 
experience of my life. 
All three orangs were very affectionate, and never 
missed an opportunity to be taken from the cage. 
When called they walked to the keeper, put their arms 
around his neck and clung to him in a suggestively hu- 
man manner. Upon being replaced they lost their 
temper, threw themselves upon the floor, rolled over 
and over, screamed and beat their bodies, or hammered 
on the floor like a child in a tantrum. At last, hurry- 
ing to the furthest corner of the cage they sat with 
folded arms, whimpering softly. 
They were particularly fond of baby foods and emul- 
sions of cod liver oil, and licked the spoon clean, often 
crying for more. 
Baths were given them twice a week, which at first 
were not received with particular favor, for they cried 
and fought, but soon became accustomed to the water 
and sat contentedly in the tub, clinging to the sides. 
While the keeper sponged them they splashed the 
water, and holding their hands above their heads, al- 
lowed it to drip into their mouths. They willingly 
took their turn, and while waiting, came to the front 
of the cage and watched the operations performed on 
their cage-mates. After the bath, they lay quiet while 
the keepers rubbed them dry with towels, each then put 
a blanket over her head, drew it around her body and 
sat for some time with only face exposed. 
Sadong was the healthiest of the three, and took 
great delight in teasing her companions. They en- 
dured it until their patience was exhausted, then 
showed their objections by biting her hands until she 
ceased her antics. I have repeatedly seen her, while 
clinging to a bar with her feet, reach down with her 
long arms, lift one of the weaker orangs a few inches 
from the floor and let it drop with a thud, or beat it 
on the bed of straw. Again, while wrestling she would 
catch her nearest companion by the hair and deliber- 
ately bump its head several times upon the floor. 
One of Sadong's favorite tricks was, after being fed, 
to walk about the cage with the empty stewpan upon 
her head, or if the keeper went away she hammered 
it on the floor, and upon his return all that remained 
of the dish was a battered mass of tinware. 
During midsummer they were taken out frequently 
and allowed to exercise among the trees. When on 
the ground they were very timid, and if the keeper at- 
tempted to leave, they cried and hurried to overtake 
him, then clung to his legs and begged to be taken up. 
Among the branches they were quite at home, and 
sometimes it was necessary to offer fruit in order to 
coax them down; again the "keepers were obliged to 
climb the trees before they could be recaptured. 
Probably New Yorkers never expected to see orang- 
utans building their nests within the city limits, yet for 
four summers this has been witnessed by many people 
who visited the Zoological Park in The Bronx. 
The orangs, when first liberated, usually busied them- 
selves climbing among the branches, but finally settled 
down to nest building. After selecting a suitable crotch 
they gathered twigs within reach and piled them one 
upon the other; if the branches were large they bent 
and used their teeth to break them; again they twisted 
persistently until the limb gave way. With these they 
built rude nests or platforms, to which they retired to 
rest. Their period of liberty was too short and infre- 
quent to be wasted in idleness, however, for they 
seemed to take more pleasure in constructing the nests 
than in occupving them, often building several nests m 
one tree. In climbing from tree to tree, where the dis- 
tance between branches was too great for them to span, 
they swayed the branch to which they clung from side 
to side until able to grasp a limb of the adjoning tree 
and cross over. 
Well do I remember old Hercules, a large orang- 
utan that arrived from Borneo on an East India tea 
vessel. When first I saw him on the steamship, he was 
lying on his back in a cage so small that he could not 
stand erect. One of the stories told of him is, that 
while en route, one of the crew gave him three bad 
eggs. Breaking each he put it to his nose, then cast it 
aside in disgust. A fourth egg offered, was without 
examination, promptly hurled at the giver, accom- 
panied by emphatic Simian oaths. (I take salt with 
th!s yarn.) ^ i. r 
On arriving at the park, he was a fit subject lor a 
bath, but owing to his strength and temper we could 
not handle him in the usual manner, so when he 
reached through the bars to accept an orange, his 
arms were caught and held, while a keeper entered the 
cage and pinioned his feet. A tub of water was pro- 
cured, and while he lay upon a bed of straw, held by 
three keepers, a fourth sponged him, and later he was 
rubbed dry with towels and given a thorough massag- 
ing to start circulation and limber his cramped muscles. 
He fought hard and attempted to bite the keepers, giv- 
ing vent to his wrath by loud guttural sounds. When 
the operation was finished he slunk away and covered 
himself with a blanket. , . , , , , 
At Berlin I saw a huge orang, which the keeper took 
from the cage, and they walked arm in arm to an ante- 
room, where the ape busied himself shifting coal from 
the bucket to the floor and back again. He then took 
'a poker and opened the stove door. As a spark flew 
in his face he winced, rubbed his eye and blew at the 
hot coals as though to cool them. 
Owego, N. Y. J- AldeN LorinG. 
Qwail in the Clothes Basket. 
Springfield, Mass.. July 4. — John Glenn, a farmer, in 
Feeding Hills, a small town a few miles west of here, was 
plowing recently and disturbed a quail. He looked on the 
ground and was not surprised to see a nest with 15 eggs 
in it almost under the feet of the horses. He turned the 
plow to one side, so as not to disturb the nest, and con- 
tinued with his work, thinking little more of the matter. 
Plis dog was with him at the time, and that night he 
remembered that the dog had gone back. This troubled 
him, and he told the story to his daughter, who at once 
took an interest in it and went to the nest, only to find 
that the dog had evidently driven the mother quail away, 
as the eggs were cold and the nest deserted. Miss Glenn 
supposed that the eggs were spoiled because they had be- 
come cold, and picked them up and took them home to 
prevent the dog from spoiling the nest. She took them 
into the kitchen and placed them all in a basket that was 
half full of clothes and was placed near the stove. Some 
more clothes were thrown over the eggs and they were 
forgotten. The next morning Miss Glenn went to the 
basket to get' the clothes and was decidedly surprised to 
hear a cheerful line of chirps coming from it. She lifted 
the clothes and eleven bright-eyed, striped little chicks 
stuck their heads up from the basket and then huddled to- 
gether just as all well mannered quail chicks should. 
During the day the chicks were fed on crumbs of bread 
and oatmeal at intervals, and seemed perfectly willing to 
eat everything that came their way. All the time they 
kept chirping and trying to say "Bob White." The next 
morning, when they were just a day old. Miss Glenn took 
them in a little box back to the place where she found the 
eggs. She poured the whole brood out on to the ground 
and expected that they would vanish at once. She was 
greatly surprised to have the entire eleven come scurring 
back into the box again and refuse to leave it under any 
circumstances. So she took them back to the house again. 
That evening she took the brood once more to the nest 
and again freed them. In an instant they had all disap- 
peared, and that was the last that has been seen of them. 
It would be interesting to know why the youngsters re- 
fused to be turned loose the first time and then went with 
a rush the second. One theory is that the old hen bird 
was near the nest and in some way called her chicks, 
who recognized the mother call by instinct. Click. 
Sqtfiffels in City Parks. 
Buffalo, N. Y. — Will Vermonter, who writes in this 
week's Forest and Stream about gray squirrels that 
abound in the city of Burlington, or other readers, 
give information in regard to stocking city parks with 
squirrels, the kind best adapted to that purpose, whether 
gray or fox, or both, and any suggestions as to the 
care they require. W. P. Davison. 
\^ni^ ^Hg md ^nn* 
Proprietors of ahootiag resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Fosbst and Stkkam. 
A Story of Fluster. 
Oakland, Gal. — Editor Forest and Stream: Although 
a reader of Forest and Stream for a great many years, 
I cannot call to mind ever seeing reported in its columns 
any such experience afield as that which I propose to re- 
late. It is to be hoped that it is for the excellent reason 
that such things do not occur, and like enough also that 
few people ever care to acknowledge being caught nap- 
ping. I have certainly never lost any sleep worrying over 
the probability of its recurrence, and now there is every 
reason to believe that the faintest possibility even is for- 
ever removed. The incident occurred while hunting- 
grouse along the edge of the big timber in the WilHamettc 
Valley, Oregon. 
At that time grouse were very plentiful, and used to 
saunter out into the stubbles along toward sundown in 
goodly numbers to feed. On this particular evening in 
the early fall, after a heavy shower, I started out to try 
my luck for a fry without a dog, not having any at the 
time. After a long tramp through all the favorite haunts 
of the birds nearly without getting glimpse of a feather, 
I had come to the conclusion that it was the \Yeather. 
The sun gleamed out unusually hot after the rain with 
that sweltering heat which made things steam and the 
perspiration trickle, that caused the birds to sit so fast and 
be so little doing. It had certainly become most decidedly 
monotonous. 
After having about given up all hope of grouse for 
breakfast, I was strolling along in a semi-hypnotic condi- 
tion, totally oblivious to the matter in hand — a state of 
mind induced, no doubt, by the humidity of the at- 
mosphere and the tranquil beauty of the sylvan scene, 
v.'hen I suddenly found myself in the very center of a 
charmed circle — so full of charm, indeed, that what littk 
wits I had took unto themselves wings and flew away — 
flew away with the birds.' Now, the birds themselves 
must have been in a trance or they would never have per- 
mitted me in such close quarters without making a move, 
having almost stepped on some of them. 
For inside of a circle of not more than twenty yards 
in diameter there suddenly arose with a roar like a 
cyclone a flock of grouse. How many? Well, I'm not 
telling anj'body— -this is no fish story. But there I was 
in the midst of them, the most demoralized sportsman that 
anybody could ever hope to see. Pshaw! anyone else 
would have killed not less than a dozen of them— in their 
minds. But I, for the first and last time in my life, not 
only parted from my wits on such an occasion, but lost 
my gun as well. Of course, the first move was to get my 
gun into business, but owing to the unexpectedness of the 
thing that happened, this instinctive movement totally 
failed of accomplishment. In my fright I pulled off one 
of the barrels at the first move; not having anything to 
butt against, the recoil broke my hold, and it was free to 
go as impelled, the jerk my left arm had given it (the gun 
was lying in the crook of my left arm, at full cock, at 
the time) under the impulse of the scare, threw it clear 
