136 MAMMALS 



land as well as clumps of bush and continuous forest, 

 when walking in the evening I often came across a troop 

 of monkeys among the long grass hunting for grasshoppers, 

 which are a great delicacy. A monkey would walk slowly 

 and intently through the grass until a grasshopper took 

 to flight just in front of him, when with a quick snatch 

 he would catch it in his hands. The monkeys always bit 

 off the head first, and then the powerful hind legs, if the 

 grasshopper kicked much, and the rest was eaten at leisure. 

 Even the largest Acrididae, three or four inches long, with 

 formidable spines on the hind legs, were eaten with gusto. 

 It always made me think of a man eating a live lobster, 

 shell, legs and all, and not one only, but half a dozen in 

 succession. 



I once saw a small young monkey in a patch of papyrus 

 reed, apparently hunting for insects. He climbed up one 

 of the tall stems, but just as he reached the top it slowly 

 bent over with his weight and he disappeared from view. 

 Fortunately for him the papyrus was not growing in 

 water. 



In Damba forest I came across a troop, on the 

 ground, very busily engaged in turning over dead leaves, 

 looking for insects. So pre-occupied were they that I was 

 enabled to creep up quite close and watch them before 

 one looked up and gave the alarm. 



The captive monkeys were always ready to eat insects, 

 and if a species was offered of which they were afra d, 

 such as a large bee or powerful ground beetle, they would 

 paw it on the ground with rapid strokes of one hand after 

 another until it was disabled, when it would be quickly 

 picked up and nipped between the teeth, to be subsequently 

 eaten at leisure, if desirable. 



One evening on Bugalla I surprised a troop hunting in 

 the long grass some little distance away from the nearest 

 trees, to which they hastily retreated. A tiny youngster 

 who had been put down by his mother was unable to 



