indeed, the Orang has been described as moving with laborious caution.
This Ape inhabits flat and forest-clad ground, and lives mainly in the trees. The male leads a solitary life except at the pairing season, but the female goes about with her family. On the ground the Orang walks with no great ease, and uses his arms as crutches to swing the body along. Even on trees the rate of progress is not rapid, and is accomplished with careful investigations as to the capabilities of the branches to bear his weight. The "Man of the Woods" has been stated to build a hut in trees. This is an exaggeration of the fact that it constructs a temporary nest.
Fig. 280.—A, Skull of a young Orang-Utan. Simia satyrus. (One-third natural size.) B, Skull of an adult Orang-Utan. (One-third natural size.) (From Wiedersheim's Structure of Man.)
One of these nests has lately been described elaborately by Dr. Moebius. It was found (by Dr. Selenka) on the fork of a tree at a height of 11 metres from the ground. Every night, as it appears, or every second night, the animal constructs a new nest for himself, abandoning the old one. So numerous, therefore, are these nests in localities frequented by Orangs, that a dozen can be readily found in a day. The particular nest which Dr. Moebius examined was 1.42 metres long, and at most .80 metre broad. It was built of about twenty-five branches, broken off and laid for
