Trapeze Artistry of the Hainan Gibbons In the winter months the "star turn" out of doors at the Zoo is the exhibition of trapeze artistry of the hardy Hainan gibbons, who seem to be wholly indifferent to the weather, It has been said that man is the only animal foolish enough to take exercise for exercise's sake, but surely these diminutive anthropoids outdo man in this respect. There is always a cheerful crowd by their enclosure, and with good reason, for I doubt whether one will find elsewhere such a display of accurate states the "Manchester can one watch the gibbons without the conviction that they are deliberate funmakers. Two of the most remarkable features of their entertainment are that they seem to be able to correct a fault in mid-air, so that if they miss one hold they can, with an extra kick, make good another, and that they can turn i the air so as to alight on a bar feeing in the opposite direction to that in which they started.
Often a pair of them will race ior the same flying zo. Then if one gets there first the other may fall to the ground. But with tha greatest good-humour he will turn a couple of somersaults, then run on all fours, putting the wrists, not the palms of his hands, on the ground, to the side of the cage, clamber up the wire, spring to the nearest perch, and challenge the winner to a return match, Each one of them will fly through the air with ease out of all comparison with that of the daring ing man of the popular song.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.