692 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



in its diurnal sleep and dragged forth to the light, its helpless movements excite com- 

 passion ; it gropes about as if blind, and lays hold of the first object that comes 

 ■within its reach, often pressing its face against it to escape the intolerable glare. The 

 darkest -corner of the hut is its seat of predilection, where it lies during day in a per- 

 fect asphyxia, from which it can only be roused by blows. But soon after sunset it 

 leaves its retreat, and then it is impossible to see a more lively, active, and merry 

 creature. From hammock it springs to hammock, generally licking the faces of the 

 sleepers, and from the floor to the rafters of the roof, overturning all that is not 

 sufficiently fastened to resist its curiosity." Its voice is remarkably strong, and, ac- 

 cording to Humboldt, is said to resemble the jaguar's roar, for which reason it is called 

 the Tiger Monkey in the missions along the Orinoco. It lives chiefly on nocturnal 

 insects, thinning their ranks like the bat, but is also said to prey upon small birds like 

 the owl. 



The Ouistitis, or Squirrel Monkeys, are distinguished from all the other American 

 quadrumana by the claws with which all their fingers except the thumbs of their hands 

 are provided, and which render them excellent service in climbing. They have a very 

 soft fur, and are extremely light and graceful in their movements, as well as elegant 

 in their forms. The young are often not bigger than a mouse, and even a full grown 

 ouistiti is hardly larger than a squirrel, whom it resembles both in its mode of life, 

 and by its restless activity, as its little head is never quiet. They use their tail, 

 which in many species is handsomely marked by transverse bars, as a protection 

 against the cold, to which they are acutely sensitive. Their numerous species are dis- 

 persed over all the forests of tropical America, where they live as well upon fruits and 

 nuts as upon insects and eggs; and when they can catch a little bird, they suck its 

 brain with all the satisfaction of an epicure. They are easily tamed, but very sus- 

 picious and irritable. Audouin made some interesting observations on a pair of tame 

 ouistitis, which prove their intelligence to be far superior to that of the squirrels, to 

 whom they are so often compared. One of them having one day, while regaling on a 

 bunch of grapes, squirted some of the juice into its eye, never failed from that time to 

 close its eyes while eating of the fruit. In a drawing they recognized not only their 

 own likeness, but that of other animals. Thus the sight of a cat, and what is still 

 more remarkable, that of a wasp, frightened them very much, while at the aspect of 

 any other insect, such as a cricket or a cockchafer, they at once rushed upon the 

 engraving, as if anxious to make a meal of the object that deluded them with the 

 semblance of life. 



