Tame animals among the red men of America. 35 
Each party had a leader, who always went first, whether 
it was to food or to bed. And the combined flock had a 
whipper-in, a queer little fellow who, because of the worn 
and stunted condition of his tail feathers, got the name 
of " Draggle-tail." If the flock was at some distance 
from home when food was put down or when the 
goobies were ready for the birds, and some of the party 
came, the others were slow to tear themselves away from 
whatever they happened to be doing, then Draggle-tail's, 
exertions were most arduous. He used to run from one 
to the other of the scattered truants, scolding and pushing 
them until they came home ; nor would he ever take food 
or go to roost himself until he had collected and brought 
home the rest. The end of the poor Draggle-tail was 
sad ; for he was seized, killed and eaten by a horrible tame 
monkey which frequently devoured the other tame animals, 
until, matters coming to a head one day not long after 
Draggle-tail's murder, the monkey seized a hen as big 
as itself, began plucking it, and was preparing to bite 
off its head, when the cries of the bird brought assistance, 
and the monkey was finally banished. 
Monkeys are very abundant in some settlements. In 
one I counted as many as 21 of various kinds. They, too, 
are generally loose, and often follow the women like dogs 
when they go through the forest to their distant fields, or 
elsewhere. The monkey most characteristic of Guiana, 
is the "baboon" of colonists, the red-howler (Mycetes 
seniculus) of English naturalists, the erota of the Carib 
Indians. The very extraordinary noise made by this ani- 
mal is much rather a roar than a howl ; so that red-roarer 
would be a more appropriate name. In captivity this 
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