NOCTURNAL ROWLINGS 



forests by night. So far- carry ing is the howl, that the 

 late Mr. Salvin found, by calculating the time that it 

 took him to traverse a patch of forest from where the 

 note first broke upon his ears to the base of the tree 

 whereon the Mycetes howled, i.e. one hour, that the 

 voice must have travelled about two miles. The 

 howling is largely assisted by the modification of the 

 throat bone, the hyoid of anatomists, into a deep cup 

 which is a resonator ; in other characters the howler 

 is quite a typical Platyrrhine ; its distinctive marks are 

 that it has a naked face and usually a beard and a 

 well developed thumb. The beard and face produce a 

 repulsive look, and for some reason or other, when a 

 beast is ill-looking, which is not infrequent, naturalists 

 often dwell in an almost malignant way upon its ugli- 

 ness. The howler justifies the uncomeliness of its 

 features by a bad and sinful disposition, and, further- 

 more, by a low intelligence which is stereotyped in the 

 simple and not complexly folded brain. The howling 

 seems to be a means of intimidation ; and it is a moot 

 point whether like cats they howl in concert, or whether 

 it is merely a big male who gives vent in this way to 

 defiance of neighbouring males. In any case, those who 

 have heard it compare the note to the tempest howling 

 through rocky caverns, and in this case justly add that 

 " it is a noise so unearthly that, heard unexpectedly for 

 the first time, it would fill the mind with the most 

 melancholy and fearful foreboding." The American 

 forest is apt to harbour or to produce such gloomy 

 noises. There is, however, another and a brighter side 

 to the howler ; it appears to be good for food above 

 all monkeys. 



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