MONKEYS. 73 



habits. Some of the larger species remaining in com- 

 plete inactivity during daylight, come forth at night, 

 and make the forest resound with their yells and howl- 

 ing. Speaking of the Red Howler, an eccentric writer 

 observes, " Nothing can sound more dreadful than its 

 nocturnal bowlings. While lying in your hammock 

 in those gloomy and immeasurable wilds, you hear him 

 howling at intervals from eleven o'clock at night till 

 daybreak. You would suppose that half the wild 

 beasts of the forest were collecting for the work of car- 

 nage. Now it is the tremendous roar of the jaguar, as 

 he springs on his prey ; now it changes to his terrible 

 deep-toned growlings, as he is pressed on all sides 

 by superior force j and now you hear his last dying 

 moan beneath a mortal wound."* 



A deep and dark evergreen, or the hollow of some 

 decaying tree, like the " shrouded owls," are the 

 abodes during the day of other small species ; and, 

 when removed from their dormitory, a dreamy motion 

 and piteous wailing, are the only exertions which an- 

 nounce that their rest has been disturbed, or their 

 feelings incommoded. During the night, on the con- 

 trary, they are all energy. 



The food of this family may be called almost entirely 

 vegetable. The accounts of their love for animal food, 

 and relish for that of human beings, as related by 



\Vaterton*8 Wanderings, 8vo edit. 305. 



