SOME RECENT NATURE BOOKS. 
HE illustration on this page is taken from “The Great Mountains and Forests of 
South America,’ by Mr. Paul Fountain, who will be remembered as the author of 
“The Great Deserts and Forests of North America,”’* a book which made up for 
the want of an index by a preface from the pen of Mr. W. H. Hudson. In his 
South American volume the latter is wanting but the former is given, and to books 
of this sort an index is indispensable. Mr. Fountain does not claim to be a scientific 
naturalist, but his book is not the worse for that; he does not add greatly to our 
Knowledge of animal lfe, but what he does tell us on that subject is told in so 
attractive a form and with such a freshness of style that make his books a pleasure 
not only to read, but also to refer to again and again. The following extract relating 
to a trip up a tributary of the Purus is typical of many :— 
“Amimal life of the higher forms was exceedingly scarce in this gloomy place; 
but the monkeys often came down the vines like a lot of sailors from aloft. Nowhere 
have I seen monkeys so tame or expose themselves so fearlessly. They are among 
the most cautious of the forest animals as a rule, and keep themselves carefully hidden 
among the leaves; but here they came down to within thirty or forty feet of me, 
looking hke satyrs in the dim light. They kept up an imcessant chatter, and continually 
leaped backwards and up and down the rope-like trailers; yet curiosity seemed the 
sole cause of their activity, and they made no hostile gestures. Their proximity was 
the source of some danger to me as they attracted the caymans, which seemed to be 
particularly ravenous. I was obliged to shoot many of these reptiles to prevent an 
attack on the canoe, until my ammunition ran short. At the report of the gun, which 
* Both these books are published by Messrs. Longman. 
“The monkeys came down the vines like a lot of sailors from aloft.” 
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