FOOT-HANDED FOXES AND SQUIRRELS. 229 



game was more easily procurable. An ounce of musk may 

 be considered the average for a full-grown animal. 



16. " From the first high ridge above the plains to the 

 limits of the forest on the snowy range, and for perhaps 

 the whole length of the chain of the Himalayas, the musk- 

 deer may be found on every hill of an elevation of above 

 eight thousand feet which is clothed with forest. On the 

 lower ranges it is comparatively a rare animal, being con- 

 fined to near the summits of the highest hills, as an ap- 

 proach to the colder forests near the snow ; but it is no- 

 where numerous, and its retired and solitary habits make 

 it appear still more rare than it really is." 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

 FOOT-HANDED FOXES AND SQUIRRELS. 



1. WE are now to make the acquaintance of a singmar 

 group of animals. On a hasty glance they would be called 

 four-footed, like many other animals ; but they are really 

 foot-handed. Both on their extremities, before and be- 

 hind, they have fingers and thumbs, which are long, flexi- 

 ble, and prehensile. Their arms, as well as their legs, are 

 long, and this structure adapts them to the climbing of 

 trees, where they are most at home, and where their food 

 is chiefly found. They are awkward walkers on the 

 ground, and with difficulty maintain an upright position 

 on their hind-legs. By their agility and supple limbs 

 they are enabled to imitate many human gestures, and 

 often exhibit caricatures of human beings. 



2. The lemur, or fox-headed monkey, is an inhabitant 

 of Madagascar and neighboring islands. In their native 



