212 ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



the sentence. The monkeys were quite familiar with 

 the sight of this gun, which had frequently been used 

 to shoot the rats that infested the premises, and when 

 the keeper approached the cage they continued their 

 several occupations with perfect unconcern. But with 

 one exception : the moment the bhunder caught sight 

 of the fateful implement she came down from her perch 

 like a shot and darted into a back room, — the sleeping- 

 apartment of the cage. It was near the breakfast-hour, 

 and the keeper bided his time. Breakfast came, and 

 the monkeys charged in like a lunch-brigade. But not 

 the bhunder. Contrary to all her habits, she kept out 

 of sight till her comrades had picked out the tidbits, 

 and only when the keeper had stepped round the corner 

 she slipped out, grabbed a piece of bread, and rushed 

 back into her hiding-place. The keeper then tried a 

 stratagem. The door of the sleeping-cage could be 

 shut with a spring-bolt, and, after connecting the spring 

 with a long strap, he posted a boy in the opposite corner 

 of the hall while he crouched down below the platform 

 of the main cage. After a full quarter of an hour, he 

 saw the boy raise his hand, pulled the strap, and heard 

 the door shut with a click. He now had the bhunder 

 at his mercy, and her behavior showed that she knew 

 it. When he pulled the strap, she made a rush for the 

 door, and, finding her retreat cut off, began to " rage 

 around like a wild-cat possessed," up and down the 

 cage, with piercing screams, while her companions 



