CARE OF CAPTIVE MONKEYS 
There are a large number of kinds, showing considerable 
variety in color, from silvery gray to black or white and black, 
or yellowish or reddish tints, and in several the long, almost 
bushy tail is ringed. The fur is soft and the general look is 
that of a kitten, but some have manes, or mustaches, resembling 
balls of cotton, or long whiskers brushed straight back, or ears 
prettily fringed. Their actions are much like those of squirrels, 
but they can rarely be seen or studied wild in the dense forest, 
for they stay in the high tree tops. Most of what we know of 
them, therefore, has been gained by their captivity, where 
they make charming but exceedingly delicate pets. South 
Americans carry them about sometimes in the folds of their 
hair. 
The Indians get them by trapping, or else by shooting the 
mother with blow-gun darts, and finding two or three babies 
clinging to her fallen body. The one best known and most 
often exported is obtained only in the island of Marajo, at the 
mouth of the Amazon. None exceeds a foot long, and the 
pygmy marmoset is the smallest known monkey, its body meas- 
uring only six inches. All writers on South American zodlogy 
have much to say of these attractive little creatures, especially 
Bates; and in The Field (of London) for April, and May, 1881, 
will be found an entertaining as well as valuable series of articles 
by Dr. Arthur Stradling on the habits of these and of many 
other Brazilian monkeys. William T. Hornaday, Director of 
the New York “Zoo,” gives the following authoritative advice 
as to the care of monkeys in captivity : — 
“The temperature should be 75 degrees, kept as even as possible. 
Food: boiled rice or tapioca, baked or boiled potatoes, ripe bananas or 
apples; a little raw meat, finely chopped; dried or parched sweet corn 
that is easily chewed; a little stale bread; occasionally a small raw onion. 
Permit no teasing; feed regularly, water frequently, and keep the cages 
clean. When monkeys become ill, carefully ascertain their trouble, then 
treat them the same as one would sick children.” 
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