54 



THE APES AND MONKEYS. 



one realizes that the poor animals, neither in the 



wild state nor in captivity, show any graceful feature 



or anything to enliven the monotony of their lives. 



General During the day the highest trees in the 



Traits of forests are the favorite haunts of the 



Howlers. Howlers ; in the gloaming they retire 



to the lower trees, whose foliage is made thicker by 



creepers, and here they sleep. Slowly they climb 



from branch to branch, selecting' leaves and buds, 



How the 

 Howler Acts 

 When Hunted. 



GOLD-FACED MONKEY. This is a singular appearing animal, with its project- 

 ing crest of hair, its long-haired tail and strikingly marked coloring. It has a wide range in 

 South America and its home is deep in the forests. In the trees it is swift in its movements, 

 constantly using its prehensile tail in traveling. (Ateles bartlettii.) 



slowly they pluck them and slowly they eat. When 

 they are satisfied, they crouch down on a bough, and 

 sit there without moving, looking very much like 

 old Men asleep ; or they stretch themselves at full 

 length on a bough, let their limbs hang down rigidly 

 from both sides and only hold on to the tree with 

 their tails. What one does, the other slowly and 

 unconsciously does, also. 



Kappler's Account Kappler, in speaking of the Red 

 of the Howlers in Guiana, says: "They live 



Red Howler. j n sma U troops, composed of about 

 ten individuals, always comprising one old male, 

 who occupies a higher seat in the trees and conducts 

 the concerts. Whenever I had the opportunity of 

 observing the Howlers closely, an old male was sit- 

 ting high up in the tree, holding himself on the tree 

 with his fore-paws and tail, while other males, fe- 

 males and young ones, were grouped lower down in 

 different positions. The old male would begin with 

 a " Rochu," repeated five or six times and running 

 into a roar, which would be taken up by all the 



others ; and so loud were the cries that one was 

 nearly deafened by them. The noise could be heard 

 at a distance of two miles. The roaring of the 

 Tigers which so terrified Pichegru and his friends 

 on their flight from Cayenne to Surinam, probably 

 was nothing but a concert given by Howlers, for 

 the uproar they make may well frighten any one 

 who hears it for the first time and does not know 

 that it is created by these harmless Monkeys. 

 Why these animals should howl so I really do not 

 know. In Guiana it is believed that they howl 

 only at the rise of the tide ; but this is not correct, 

 as they will sometimes howl at any hour of the 

 day. The Howler is lazy and melancholy ; he 

 jumps only when pursued ; ordinarily he deliber- 

 ately climbs about, always holding fast to some 

 object with his tail. Captured young, he becomes 

 tame and plays with Cats and Dogs, but is usually 

 sad. If a person he has taken a fancy to leaves 

 him, his cries become a nuisance. Howlers emit 

 a peculiar, ill-smelling odor, by which one 

 traveling through the forests they inhabit 

 can easily detect their proximity. The 

 females never give birth to more than one 

 young one at a time. Their chief enemy 

 is the Eagle. 



When Howlers are shot at 

 they make their escape as 

 quickly as possible. It is 

 an amusing sight when, in its fright, a half- 

 grown young one jumps on the back of an 

 old male in order to escape with greater 

 celerity, but is brought down by a sharp 

 box on his ears, and thus taught that the 

 service he covets does not belong to the 

 duties of a father of a family. 



In a great part of Paraguay the Howl- 

 ers are hunted by the Indians ; their fur is 

 popular and their meat is a favorite food 

 with the natives. 



Howlers Howlers are seldom tamed, 

 in and their domestication is 



Captivity, very difficult. Rengger saw 

 only two in captivity that were over a year 

 old. They were fed leaves and preferred 

 them to any other kind of food. They 

 seemed very dull animals, paid no more 

 attention to their keeper than to anybody 

 else, and could not be taught to do any- 

 thing. Wied relates of other tame Howl- 

 ers, that they became so attached to their owner 

 that they always cried when he left them but for a 

 moment. Yet their laziness, sadness and disagree- 

 able voice made them repulsive, even to him. 



THE SPIDER MONKEYS. 



An exceedingly slim body and long, thin, sprawl- 

 ing limbs distinguish the Spider Monkeys (Atcles). 

 The naturalist who first called them by this title found 

 a most appropriate name, and one which naturally 

 comes to every one who sees them. The head of 

 the Spider Monkey is small, the face beardless and 

 the thumb on the fore-paw lacking or rudimentary. 



They are natives of South America, ranging to 



the twenty-fifth degree of southern latitude (as far 



south as Ascencion). They live only on the higher 



branches of the tallest trees. 



Spider Monkeys The lives of the different species of 



in Their Spider Monkeys seem to be very 



Native Forests, similar, and exceedingly monoto- 

 nous. Tschudi, agreeing with many other observers, 



