THE MONKEY FAMILY. 



33 



family, however highly we may estimate its powers 

 of mimickry. 



One quotation more from our immortal engraver 

 in wood, and then I will shut his valuable hook, 

 wishing sincerely, for the good of zoology, that he 

 had confined himself solely to the engraving 

 department of it, in lieu of consulting writers 

 whose judgment seems never to have been suffici- 

 ently matured, to enable them to distinguish truth 

 from fiction. Hence, with the very best intentions, 

 they are perpetually going astray by too often 

 mistaking for real flame, the fallacious exhalations 

 of " Will o' the Wisp," as they hover over the 

 treacherous surface of a distant quagmire. 



He informs his readers in the volume of quad- 

 rupeds, that " monkeys break off branches, — throw 

 them at the passengers, and frequently with so sure 

 an aim, as to annoy them not a little." 



This is said of the pata or red monkey, perhaps 

 the most wary of all the family, and ever on the 

 alert to escape when man approaches. But, grant- 

 ing for a moment, that monkeys have the power to 

 throw sticks, let me ask, how did the patas contrive 

 to take a sure aim, amongst the woven and inter- 

 vening branches of a tropical forest ? The question 

 is easily answered. This monkey, by its natural 

 shyness and fear of danger, has never had time, 



G 



