270 NOCTURNAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 



heard in the adjoining forest, that for the remainder of the 

 night all sleep was impossible. The wild cries of animals 

 appeared to rage throughout the forest. Among the many 

 voices which resounded together, the Indians could only 

 recognise those which, after short pauses in the general 

 uproar, were first heard singly. There was the monotonous 

 howling of the aluates (the howling monkeys) ; the plain- 

 tive, soft, and almost flute-like tones of the small sapajous ; 

 the snorting grumblings of the striped nocturnal monkey ( 6 ) 

 (the Nyctipithicus trivirgatus, which I was the first to de- 

 scribe) ; the interrupted cries of the great tiger, the cuguar 

 or maneless American lion, the peccary, the sloth, and a host 

 of parrots, of parraquas, and other pheasant-like birds. 

 When the tigers came near the edge of the forest, our dog, 

 which had before barked incessantly, came howling to seek 

 refuge under our hammocks. Sometimes the cry of the 

 tiger was heard to proceed from amidst the high branches of 

 a tree, and was in such case always accompanied by the 

 plaintive piping of the monkeys, who were seeking to 

 escape from the unwonted pursuit. 



If one asks the Indians why this incessant noise and dis- 

 turbance arises on particular nights, they answer, with a 

 smile, that "the animals are rejoicing in the bright moon- 

 light, and keeping the feast of the full moon/' To me it 

 appeared that the scene had probably originated in some 

 accidental combat, and that hence the disturbance had 

 spread to other animals, and thus the noise had increased 

 more and more. The jaguar pursues the peccaries and 

 tapirs, and these, pressing against each other in their flight, 



