250 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



been jerked out into the water. I suspect the humming- 

 bird never lays more than two eggs. I never found 

 more than two in any of the- many nests which have 

 come in my way. The eggs were always white, with- 

 out any spots on them. 



Probably travellers have erred in asserting that the 

 monkeys of South America throw sticks and 

 Monkeys. ^ their pursuers. I have had fine op- 



portunities of narrowly watching the different species 

 of monkeys which are found in the wilds, betwixt the 

 Amazons and the Oroonoque. I entirely acquit them 

 of acting on the offensive. When the monkeys are in 

 the high trees over your head, the dead branches will 

 now and then fall down upon you, having been broken 

 off as the monkeys pass along them ; but they are never 

 hurled from their hands. 



Monkeys, commonly so called, both in the 



Three classes iii j.- j_ -u i j • ± 



of Monkeys, old and new continent, may be classed into 

 three grand divisions ; namely, the ape, 

 which has no tail whatever ; the baboon, which has 

 only a short tail ; and the monkey, which has a long 

 tail. There are no apes, and no baboons as yet dis- 

 covered in the Xew World. Its monkeys may be very 

 well and very briefly ranged under two heads ; namely, 

 those with hairy and bushy tails ; and those whose 

 tails are bare of hair underneath, about six inches from 

 the extremity. Those with hairy and bushy tails climb 

 just like the squirrel, and make no use of the tail to 

 help them from branch to branch. Those which have 

 the tail bare underneath towards the end, find it of 

 infinite advantage to them, in their ascent and descent. 

 They apply to the branch of the tree, as though it were 

 a supple finger, and frequently swing by it from the 



