VARIOUS MONKEY-TRIBES. 



691 



cautiously to the high and tufted tree where he is sitting, one may then have a won- 

 derful opportunity of seeing the large lump in his throat, the sounding-board which 

 gives such volume to his voice, move up and down as he exerts his stentorian lungs. 

 Poppig compares the hcfwling of the aluate to the noise of ungreased cart wheels, but 

 very much stronger, and affirms that it may be heard at the distance of a league. 



Like the African Colobi, the Ateles, or Spider Monkeys, have no thumb on their 

 fore-hands ; their voice is a soft and flute-like whistling, resembling the piping of a 

 bird. It is said that when a mother burthened with her young hesitates to take too 

 wide a leap, paterfamilias seizes the branch she intends to reach, and swings himself 

 to and fro with it, until his companion is able to attain it by a spring. But when a 

 young monkey that is already sufficiently strong is fearful, the mother, to give him 

 courage, repeats the manoeuvre several times before him. The spider monkeys live in 

 more or less numerous troops, and chiefly subsist on insects, though when near the sea 

 they will also come down upon the beach and feed on mollusks, particularly on 

 oysters, whose shells they are said to crack with a stone. 



The second group^of American monkeys, consisting of those with a non-prehensile 

 tail, comprises the sakis, the saimiris, the ouistitis, etc. The Sakis, or Fox-tailed 

 Monkeys, are distinguished by their bushy tail, which, however, in some species, is 

 very short. They usually live in the outskirts of forests, in small societies of ten or 

 twelve. Upon the slightest provocation, they display a morose and savage temper, 

 and, like the howling monkeys, utter loud cries before sunrise and after sunset. 



The elegant ease of their movements, their soft fur, the large size of their brilliant 

 eyes, and their little round face, entitle the Saimiris to be called the most graceful of 

 monkeys. Humboldt, who frequently observed them in tropical America, tells us 

 that they are extremely affectionate, and that when ofi'ended, their eyes immediately 

 swim in tears. On speaking to them for some time, they listen with great attention, 

 and soon lay their tiny hand upon the speaker's mouth, as if to catch the words as 

 they pass through his lips. They recognize the objects represented in an engraving 

 even when not colored, and endeavored to seize the pictured fruits or insects. The 

 latter, and particularly spiders, which they catch most dexterously with their lips or 

 hands, seem to be their favorite food. The weak little creatures are very fond of 

 being carried about by larger monkeys, and cling fast to their back. At first the 

 animal to which they thus attach themselves endeavors to get rid of its burden ; but 

 finding it impossible, it soon becomes reconciled to its fate, and after a short time an 

 intimate affection arises between them, so that when the saimiri is busy chasing insects, 

 his friend, before leaving the spot, first gives him notice by a gentle cry. A similar 

 dependent and affectionate intercourse is not rare among other species of monkeys. 



The habits of the Nyctopitheci, or nocturnal monkeys, bear a great resemblance to 

 those of the bats or flying foxes. The shy and quiet little animals sleep by day con- 

 cealed in the dense thickets of the forest. Their eye and motions are completely 

 feline. Those which Yon Martins observed in his collection, crept by day into a 

 corner of the cage, but after sunset their agility made up for their diurnal torpor. 



In Guiana, Schomburgk met with the Nyctipithecus trivirgatus as a domestic 

 animal. " A very neat little monkey, shy of light as the owl or the bat. A small 

 round head, extremely large yellow eyes, shining in the dark stronger than those of 

 the cat, and tiny short ears, give it a peculiarly comical appearance. When disturbed 



