THE MACAQUES 107 



even in Japan. To the northward, macaques extend into the outer ranges of the 

 Himalayas, while a single species inhabits the secluded highlands of Eastern Tibet. 

 The whole of the large number of monkeys reckoned as macaques 

 seem to have much the same general habits, being always found gath- 

 ered together in troops, which may be of considerable numbers, and always comprise 

 individuals of both sexes, and of all sizes and ages. They are forest-dwelling ani- 

 mals ; and, while active and rapid in their movements, are less markedly so than 

 their compatriots the langurs. As regards food, macaques have a varied appetite, 

 most, if not all, of them eagerly eating insects as well as seeds and fruits. More- 

 over, they have occasionally been observed to devour lizards, and it is reported that 

 frogs also form part of their food on rare occasions, while one species is known to 

 subsist partly on crustaceans. Their cheek pouches are of very large size, and it 

 is the general habit of these monkeys to stuff these receptacles as full as they will 

 hold on every available occasion. 



According to Mr. Blanford, from whose works the above account of their 

 habits is paraphrased, the voice and gestures of all the macaques are similar, and 

 differ markedly from those of the langurs. In regard to these points, the same 

 writer gives an interesting quotation from the manuscript notes of Colonel Tickell 

 an excellent observer of the habits of Indian animals which we repeat. Colonel 

 Tickell says: "Anger is generally silent, or, at most, expressed by a low hoarse 

 ( heu,' not so gular or guttural as a growl. Ennui and a desire for company by a 

 whining 'horn.' Invitation, deprecation, entreaty, by a smacking of the lips and a 

 display of the incisors into a regular broad grin, accompanied with a subdued grunt- 

 ing chuckle, highly expressive, but not to be rendered on paper. Fear and alarm 

 by a loud harsh shriek, 'kra ' or ' kraouk, ' which serves also as a warning to the others 

 who may be heedless of danger. Unlike the langurs and gibbons, they have no 

 voice if calling to one another. ' ' 



In confinement most of the species are docile if caught young ; but old males 

 that have been captured when full grown are sometimes exceedingly spiteful ; and 

 the present writer has a vivid recollection of a pig-tailed macaque formerly in the 

 Zoological Gardens at Calcutta that was very ferocious, and would fly at every 

 visitor who approached his cage with open mouth and the most menacing gestures. 

 In their wild state it also appears that these monkeys will occasionally show fight. 

 Thus Mr. Sterndale tells us that on one occasion during the Indian Mutiny he came 

 across a party of rhesus macaques, among whom were several females with young 

 ones. He endeavored without success, to run them down, in order to capture the 

 latter, when he was deliberately charged by the old males of the party, the leader 

 of whom he had to dispatch with a pistol bullet. Several of the species will breed 

 in captivity. As a rule, their manners when in the latter state are the reverse of 

 pleasant. 



Since the number of species of macaques is very large, we shall select for especial 

 notice only some of the better-known types, commencing with those with the tails 

 so long that their length exceeds three-quarters of the combined length of the head 

 and body, and concluding with those in which the length of this appendage is less 

 than three-quarters of that of the head and body. 



