THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 2/ 



only acted on general principle, I do not know ; but 

 that he missed one from three was quite evident. 



I may here add that there is a great differ- 

 ence in different specimens, and their tastes vary 

 like those of human beings. The same idea is 

 much clearer to some monkeys than it is to others, 

 and a choice of colors much more definite; but I 

 think that all of them assign to different num- 

 bers a difference of value. Some are talkative 

 and others taciturn. I think I may state with 

 safety that the Cebus is the most intelligent and 

 talkative of all the monkeys I have known ; that 

 the old-world monkeys, as a group, are more 

 taciturn and less intelligent than the new-world 

 monkeys ; but I do not mean to include the an- 

 thropoid apes in this remark. 



As a test of their taste for music or musical 

 sounds, I took three little bells, which I sus- 

 pended by three strings, one end of which was 

 tied to a button. The bells were all alike ex- 

 cept that from two of them I had removed the 

 clappers. I dropped the bells through the 

 meshes of the cage about a foot apart and allowed 

 the monkey to play with them. I soon discov- 

 ered that he was attracted by the one which con- 

 tained the clapper. He played with it and soon 



