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APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



may have been driven to it during a season of scarcity, and found it so much to 

 their liking that they have continued it ever since. Be this as it may, there is no 

 doubt whatever as to the crustacean-devouring proclivities of this species. For 

 instance, Sir Arthur Phayre mentions that "these monkeys frequent the banks of 

 salt-water creeks and devour shell fish. In the cheek pouches of a female were 

 found the claws and body of a crab. There is not much on record concerning the 

 habits of this monkey in its wild state beyond what is stated concerning its 

 partiality for crabs, which can also, I believe, be said of the rhesus in the Bengal 

 sanderbans." According to Colonel Tickell, as quoted by Mr. Blanford, the crab- 

 eating macaque is common on the tidal creeks and rivers of Burma and Tenasserim,. 



THE UON-TAII,ED MONKEY 

 (One-tenth natural size.) 



especially in the delta of the Irawadi. They go usually in small family parties of 

 from five to fifteen individuals, including an old male and four or five females with 

 their offspring. Their home is among the roots and boughs of the mangrove trees, 

 and they spend a large portion of their time in searching for insects and crabs. 

 From the constant presence of human beings on the waterways near which they 

 dwell, these monkeys become very tame and can be easily approached. They will 

 even, Mr. Blanford tells us, pick up rice or fruit thrown down to them. Still more 

 remarkable is the facility with which they can swim and dive. Colonel Tickell 

 states that on one occasion a male of this species that had been wounded and placed 

 for security in a boat, jumped overboard and dived several fimes over to a distance 

 of some fifty yards, in order to prevent recapture. L,ike most macaques, this 



