8 HOWLING MONKEY. 



wounded animal, meanwhile, presses his finger on 

 the injured part, and looks steadily at the flowing 

 of the blood, until, through weakness, he loses all 

 consciousness of suffering, and expires. He then 

 slips off the branch on which he sat, but generally 

 remains suspended by the tail, which in times of 

 danger, is coiled round the nearest bough. 



These animals are easily domesticated. The 

 regard which they evince one towards the other is 

 soon transferred to their masters, and caresses and 

 good treatment render them remarkably affectionate. 

 It is even said that they have been taught to per- 

 form domestic offices. 



The Large Red Monkey, the S. siniculus of De- 

 merara, is also a tremendous howler. Nothing can 

 be more dreadful than his nocturnal yells. The 

 traveller who, lying in his hammock, amid gloomy 

 immeasurable wilds, hears him at intervals from 

 eleven o'clock till daybreak, might suppose that in- 

 numerable wild beasts were collecting for the work 

 of carnage. Now, he seems to listen to the terrific 

 roar of the Jaguar, as he springs on his prey; now, 

 the sound changes to his deep-toned growlings, 

 as he is pressed on all sides by superior force; and 

 now, you hear his last dying moan, beneath a mor- 

 tal wound. Some naturalists suppose that these 

 awful sounds, which resemble those of enraged or 

 suffering wild beasts, proceed from a number of 

 Red Monkeys, when howling in concert. But an 

 individual readily produces this variety of intona- 

 tions, aided by the peculiar structure of the trachea. 

 In dark and cloudy weather, and just before a squall 

 of wind or rain, this monkey will often howl in the 



