244 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



face and a pair of red callosities behind are the only 

 bright marks upon its body. It stands about two feet 

 in height, and its tail is about half that length. It 

 congregates in troops, thirty or more of both sexes 

 and of all ages living together in the same pack. 

 They haunt the forest, where they climb heavily 

 amongst the trees, descend to the grassy glades, or 

 pillage the cultivated tracts about the villages. They 

 pass the day incessantly scratching and picking at 

 one another, turning up the stones and leaves in 

 search of seeds, joining in noisy squabbles, or exploring 

 one another's fur in the quest of imaginary fleas. 

 The adults are the more sedate ; they often stretch 

 themselves in the sun while the little ones toss about 

 the o^round or grambol amoncrst the conifers and oaks. 

 They are quarrelsome and pugnacious, are everlast- 

 ingly hissing, biting and cuffing at one another so 

 that the whole family seems as though it had some 

 interminable dispute. It is an insolent and intrusive 

 creature. It plunders fields, enters human habitations 

 and even presses down into the crowded bazars of 

 Simla. It sets up a show of audacity towards an 

 intruder ; it assumes a threatening attitude, it growls, 

 shakes itself, pretends to spring ; but it is all a sham 

 and a pretence, it makes off before a real danger. At 

 night they roost upon the trees, but by day they seem 

 to feel more secure upon the ground, and when alarmed 

 they will often come leaping to earth as though 

 they feared to be isolated amidst the foliage. It is 

 an intelligent and crafty creature. It is the monkey 

 that is commonly carried by showmen throughout 

 India. It is also clever in its native haunts, and I 

 knew of an instance where a whole troop of these 



