OCR Text |
Show 190 OX THE HABITS OF THE nOOLOCK. [Feb. 17, conclusions can be drawn from the habits of captured specimens, nor can we recognize as a rule substances in the stomach 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 foim 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 would not eat. If you give an insect or a 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. The following list of leaves and shoots which are eaten by the Hoolock is given by Anderson:- Morugo pterygosperma, Spondias man i f era, Ficus religiosa, Beta vulgaris, Ipomcea re/plans, Canna indica. I hope later on to supplement these short notes with some anatomical observations on weight of brain relative to body, and on the number and depth of the convolutions. But this is a matter of time, for specimens are not very readily obtained. The Hindoo coolies, who form the bulk of the population in the tea-districts of Cachar, will never kill a Hoolock. The Kuki tiibes in the Cachar Hills, on the other hand, kill and eat them, and regard them as somewhat of a delicacy, I believe. But even a Kuki finds it difficult to get a shot at these creatures, so shy are they and so active in their movements. |