Tricks of a Monkey 93 
There was such an uproar amongst the fowls on these occa- 
sions, that we soon knew what was the matter, and would 
rush out and punish Mickey (as we called him) with a switch, 
which ultimately cured him of his poultry-killing propensi- 
ties. Once, when whipping him, I held up the dead duckling 
in front of him, and at each blow of the light switch told him 
to take hold of it, and at last, much to my surprise, he did so, 
taking it and holding it tremblingly in one hand. He would 
draw things towards him with a stick, and even use a swing 
for the same purpose. It had been put up for the children, 
and could be reached by Mickey, who now and then indulged 
himself with a swing on it. One day, I had put down some 
bird-skins on a chair to dry, far beyond, as I thought, Mickey’s 
reach; but, fertile in expedients, he took the swing and 
launched it towards the chair, and actually managed to 
knock the skins off in the return of the swing, so as to bring 
them within his reach. He also procured some jelly that 
was set out to cool in the same way. Mickey’s actions were 
very human-like. When any one came near to fondle him, 
he never neglected the opportunity of pocket-picking. He 
would pull out letters, and quickly take them from their 
envelopes. Anything-eatable disappeared into his mouth 
immediately. Once he abstracted a small bottle of turpen- 
tine 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. Another time, 
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 
grunting chuckle he often used when found out in any 
mischief, and which meant, “‘ I know I have done 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 trying 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 
