142 BOTANIC GARDENS MENAGERIE. 



younger one; probably however some of the other males joined 

 in. A couple of days afterwards the old veteran was found in 

 the morning lying dead by a waterbutt, with his throat cut ac- 

 ross, and some other fresh wounds, and his shoulder swollen 

 and gangrened from injuries received in his first fight. He 

 was sent to the museum to skeletonize when it was found that 

 at some much earlier date three ribs had been broken and had 

 mended again. 



The leading monkey having established his position, takes 

 his food first, and has his selection of the females first. The 

 other males he drives away should they presume to attempt to 

 usurp his rights. In processions from one place to the other 

 he always comes last, but if one of the younger monkeys gets 

 into a dangerous position or is attacked he always runs to its 

 rescue, and drives off the enemy, and the other big males often 

 assist him if necessary. The wild monkeys always sleep in 

 particular trees, those with bare branches and very lofty, and 

 towards evening they may be seen slowly moving along, 

 stopping here and there to eat, till they reach the sleeping 

 place about sundown, they then settle down for the night, 

 sitting usually in pairs or singly on the bare boughs. The same 

 tree is occupied every evening for weeks at a time, and where- 

 ever they are in the evening they make for the same spot. 

 They never sleep in a bushy tree, probably for fear of being 

 surprised at night by snakes. Young monkeys are always 

 born in the early hours of the morning before daylight, as 

 almost if not all mammals are, and are born in the boughs, or 

 if in a cage on the perch ; never I believe on the ground. In 

 cases of difficult parturition at least, the other females act as 

 accoucheuses, with sometimes disastrous results to the baby. 

 But difficulties in births are rare even in the cage and I have 

 only seen one or two. The K'ra breeds very easily in captivity, 

 the females producing one at a time about once a year. The 

 young one when born has black hair which gets lighter colored 

 with age. The Berok Macacus nemestrinus does not breed in 

 captivity ; at least it has never done so with its own race in 

 the gardens. But it has been successfully crossed with the 

 K'ra, and also with Cynopithecus niger. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



