140 TBE DESCENT OF MAN 



it cried loudly for assistance, upon which the other members 

 of the troop, with much uproar, rushed to the rescue, sur- 

 rounded the eagle, and pulled out so many feathers that he" 

 no longer thought of his prey, but only how to escape. 

 This eagle, as Brehm remarks, assuredly would never again 

 attack a single monkey of a troop." 



It is certain that associated animals have a feeling of lova 

 for each other which is not felt by non-social adult animals. 

 How far in most cases they actually sympathize in the pains 

 and pleasures of others, is more doubtful, especially with 

 respect to pleasures. Mr, Buxton, however, who had ex- 

 cellent means of observation," states that his macaws, which 

 lived free in Norfolk, took "an extravagant interest" in a 

 pair with a nest; and whenever the female left it, she was 

 surrounded by a troop "screaming horrible acclamations ia 

 her honor." It is often difficult to judge whether animals 

 have any feeling for the sufferings of others of their kind. 

 Who can say what cows feel, when they surround and stare 

 intently on a dying or dead companion; apparently, how- 

 ever, as Houzeau remarks," they feel no pity. That animals 

 sometimes are far from feeling any sympathy is too certain; 

 for they will expel a wounded animal from the herd, or gore 

 or worry it to death. This is almost the blackest fact in 

 natural history, unless, indeed, the explanation which has 

 been suggested is true, that their instinct or reason leads 

 them to expel an injured companion, lest beasts of prey, 

 including man, should be tempted to follow the troop. la 

 this case their conduct is not much worse than that of the 

 North Amer-ican Indians, who leave their feeble comrades 

 to perish o^ the plains; or the Fijians, who, when their 

 parents get old, or fall ill, bury them alive." 



'* Mr. Belt gives the case of a spider monkey (Ateles) in Nicaragua, whioll 

 was heard screaming for nearly two hours in the forest, and was found with an 

 eagle perched close by it. The bird apparently feared to attack as long as is 

 remained face to face; and Mr. Belt believes, from what he has seen of the 

 habits of these monkeys, that they protect themselves from eagles by keeping 

 two or three together. "The Naturalist in Nicaragua," 1874, p. 118. 



» "Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.," November, 1868, p. 382. 



w Sir J. Lubbock, ^'Prehistoric Times," 2d edit. p. 446. 



