120 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII. 



pcared into his mouth immediately. Once he abstracted 

 a small bottle of turpentine from the pocket of our medical 

 officer. He drew the cork, held it first to one nostril 

 then to the other, made a wry face, recorked it, and 

 returned it to the doctor. One day, when he got loose, 

 he was detected carrying off the cream-jug from the 

 table, holding it upright with both hands, and trying to 

 move off on his hind limbs. He gave the jug up without 

 spilling a drop, all the time making an apologetic grunt- 

 ing chuckle he often used when found out in any mis- 

 chief, and which alwavs meant, " I know I have done 



\j * 



wrong, but don't punish me ; in fact, I did not mean to 

 do it, it was accidental." Whenever, however, he saw 

 he was going to be punished, he would change his tone 

 to a shrill, threatening note, showing his teeth, and try- 

 ing to intimidate. He had quite an extensive vocabulary 

 of sounds, varying from a gruff bark to a shrill whistle ; 

 and we could tell by them, without seeing him, when it 

 was he was hungry, eating, frightened, or menacing ; 

 doubtless, one of his own species would have understood 

 various minor shades of intonation and expression that 

 we, not entering into his feelings and wants, passed over 

 as unintelligible. There is a third species of monkey 

 (Mycetes pattiatm), called by the natives the congo, which 

 occasionally is heard howling in the forest; but they 

 are not often seen, as they generally remain quiet 

 amongst the upper branches of particular trees. One 

 day, when riding down this path, I came upon a pack 

 of pisotis (Nasua fusca, Desm.), a raccoon-like animal, 

 that ascends all the small trees, searching for birds' 

 nests and fruits. There were not less than fifty in the 

 pack I saw, and nothing seemed likely to escape their 



