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 in its diurnal sleep and dragged forth to the light, its helpless movements excite compassion; it gropes about as if blind, and lays hold of the first object that comes within its reach, often pressing its face against it to escape the intolerable glare. The darkest corner of the hut is its seat of predilection, where it lies during day in a perfect asphyxia, from which it can only be roused by blows. But soon after sunset it leaves its retreat, and then it is impossible to see a more lively, active, and merry creature. From hammock it springs to hammock, generally licking the faces of the sleepers, and from the floor to the rafters of the roof, overturning all that is not sufficiently fastened to resist its curiosity.’
Its hair, which is grey on the back and orange-coloured on the belly, is much thicker than that of the other monkeys, and somewhat woolly, thus being admirably suited to the colder temperature of its nocturnal rambles. It ranges over a great part of South America, but on account of its retirement during the day is very rarely caught. Its voice is remarkably strong, and, according to Humboldt, is said to resemble the jaguar’s roar, for which reason it is called the Tiger Monkey in the missions along the Orinoco. It lives chiefly on nocturnal insects, thinning their ranks like the bat, but is also said to prey upon small birds like the owl. In the Andes of New Granada, in the large forests of Quindiu, the N. lemurinus lives at an elevation of from four to five thousand feet above the level of the sea, and makes the woods resound during the night with his clamorous cry of ‘dūrūcŭli.’
The Ouistitis, or Squirrel Monkeys, are distinguished from all the other American quadrumana by the claws with which all their fingers, except the thumbs of their hands, are provided, and which render them excellent service in climbing. They have a very soft fur, and are extremely light and graceful in their movements, as well as elegant in their forms. The young are often not bigger than a mouse, and even a full-grown ouistiti is hardly larger than a squirrel, whom it resembles both in its mode of life, and by its restless activity, as its little head is never quiet. They use their tail, which in many species is handsomely marked by transverse bars, as a protection against the cold, to which they are acutely sensitive. Their numerous species are dispersed over all the forests of tropical America, where they live as well upon fruits and nuts as upon insects and eggs; and when they can catch a little bird, they suck its brain with all the satisfaction of an epicure. They are easily tamed, but very suspicious and irritable.
The learned French naturalist, Audouin, made some interesting observations on a pair of tame ouistitis, which prove their intelligence to be far superior to that of the squirrels, to whom they are often compared. One of them, while regaling on a bunch of grapes, squirted some of the juice into its eye, and never failed from that time to close its eyes while eating of the fruit. In a drawing they recognised not only their own likeness, but that of other animals. Thus the sight of a cat, and what is still more remarkable, that of a wasp, frightened them very much, while at the aspect of any other insect, such as a cricket or a cockchafer, they at once rushed upon the engraving, as if anxious to make a meal of the object that deluded them with the semblance of life.
HANDED LEMUR.
In the forests of tropical Africa and Asia we find a remarkable group of animals, which, though quadrumanous like the monkeys, essentially differs from them by possessing long curved claws on the index, and also on the middle finger of the hinder extremities; by a sharp, projecting muzzle, and by a different dentition. The Loris, remarkable for the slowness of their gait and their large glaring eyes, are exclusively natives of the East Indies; the Galagos, which unite the organisation of the monkeys with the graceful sprightliness of the squirrels, are confined solely to Africa, where they are chiefly found in the gum-forests of Senegal; the Tarsii, with hinder limbs of a disproportionate length, are restricted to a part of the Indian Archipelago; but the large island of Madagascar, where, strange to say, not a single monkey is found, is the chief seat of the family, being the exclusive dwelling-place of the short-tailed Indri (whom, from his black thick fur and anthropomorphous shape, one would be inclined to reckon among the gibbons), and of the long-tailed Lemurs or Makis. All these gentle and harmless animals are arboreal in their habits, avoid the glaring light of day under the dense covert of the forest, and awaken to a more active existence as soon as night descends upon the earth. Then the loris, who during the day have slept clinging to a branch, prowl among the forest-boughs in quest of food. Nothing can escape the scrutiny of their large glaring eyes; and when they have marked their victim, they cautiously and noiselessly approach till it is within their grasp. The Galagos have at night all the activity of birds, hopping from bough to bough on their hind limbs only. They watch the insects flitting among the leaves, listen to the fluttering of the moth as it darts through the air, lie in wait for it, and then spring like lightning upon their prize. The long-legged Tarsii leap about two feet at a spring, and feed chiefly on small lizards, holding, squirrel-like, their prey in their fore-hands, while they rest on their haunches.
TARSIUS BANCANUS.