THE DOG-SHAPED MONKEYS— BABOON. 



47 



Hamadryas When a troop of these Baboons are 

 Watohing for sitting still, they all keep perfectly 

 Enemies. silent until something happens. The 

 approach of a Man or herd of cattle, when perceived 

 by one of them, is noted by a queer sound, which 

 may best be compared to the barking of certain 

 Dogs, and probably is uttered only with a view of 

 attracting the attention of the troop. At the dan- 

 gerously near approach of Man or of a beast of 

 prey, entirely different and varying sounds are made 

 by the members of the colony. The babel of voices 

 in an excited band of Hamadryas is most iitly com- 

 pared to the grunting and squeaking of a large 

 number of Pigs. There are also a few deep sounds, 

 reminding one of the roaring of a Leopard, or the 

 low grumble of an Ox. The Monkeys roar, growl, 

 bark, shriek, grunt and squeal in chorus. All the 



DBILL. The Drill has prominent cheek bones and ridges above, the same as the Mandrill, but the vivid color- 

 ing is lacking. It is smaller than the Mandrill and its hair is greener, vfhile underneath it is whiter and more silvery. 

 The whiskers which are heavy are brushed back and the small beard is orange colored. It is a native of the coast ot 

 Guinea and its habits are similar to those of the Mandrill which it so closely resembles, 

 tivity in the United States as well as in Europe. ( Cynocephalus leucophaeus.) 



fighting males come to the edge of the rock and 

 attentively look down to acquaint themselves with 

 the danger ; the young ones seek the protection of 

 the older ones ; the little ones cling to their moth- 

 ers' breasts or jump on their backs, and then the 

 whole band gets in motion, and hurries along, run- 

 ning and hopping on all fours. 



A native does not frighten the Hamadryas. He 

 goes past them and drinks out of the same river 

 with them, but a white Man arouses their suspicion, 

 though one cannot exactly say that they flee before 

 him. More, even, than other Monkeys these Bab- 

 oons have a confidence and hopefulness which never 

 despairs of finding a way of escape when danger is 

 most imminent. It is entirely different when they 



see a Dog or a Leopard. Then the old males raise 

 their terrible roaring noise, beat the earth with one 

 fore-paw, show their teeth, and with flashing eyes 

 gaze down from the rock, ready to rush at the enemy. 

 Brehm's First The first troop I met was just rest- 

 Experience with ing from a morning's wanderings. 

 Hamadryas. The Monkeys were sitting on the 

 crest of a mountain, the ascent to which was very 

 steep on both sides. I had seen the large forms 

 of the males at a great distance, but had thought 

 them to be pieces of rock, for these Monkeys, in 

 repose, present an impassive appearance. A re- 

 peated bark told me the truth. All the heads 

 turned to look at our party. , Only the young ones 

 went on playing, and several females did not im- 

 mediately give up their occupation, which consisted 

 of carefully looking over the fur of one of the old 



gentlemen. Probably 

 matters would not have 

 gone any farther, if we 

 had not had two Dogs 

 along, beautiful, slender 

 greyhounds, accustomed 

 to hunt the Hyena and 

 the Wolf. They an- 

 swered the Monkey-cries 

 by a loud bark, and im- 

 mediately a commotion 

 ensued among the Bab- 

 oons. They seemed to 

 know of a better and 

 more secure abode, and 

 slowly filed along the 

 mountain-crest, till they 

 disappeared from view. 

 But at the next bending 

 of the valley we saw the 

 whole troop, all in a row, 

 hanging on to a seem- 

 ingly vertical wall of rock 

 in a manner which I have 

 been unable to solve to 

 this day. This scene 

 seemed too inviting to 

 be left undisturbed. The 

 pity that stirs the heart 

 of every one who hunts 

 small Monkeys because 

 of their human-like ap- 

 pearance did not trouble 

 us in the slightest, for 

 the Hamadryas look like 

 furious beasts of prey. 

 Unfortunately the rock 

 was too high for our bul- 

 lets to reach them, but 

 disturb them. The effect 

 of the first shot was indescribable. A deafening 

 roaring, howling, barking and shrieking immediately 

 followed ; then the entire line began to move, as 

 easily and securely as if the animals were on level 

 ground. We could not understand how they obtained 

 a foothold. But it would seem that a narrow edge 

 of stone is considered safe and comfortable travel- 

 ing ground by them. We fired about six shots in 

 all ; but we were unable to take good aim, because 

 our surprise at the situation had robbed us of our 

 equanimity. 



Still our bullets were aimed well enough to in- 

 crease the excitement of the creatures to a demon- 

 stration of terror. It was extremely ludicrous to 



It is sometimes seen in cap- 



we determined to at least 



