“I regret to say that poor gentle Sally is dead. She had lived for years on board ship, alike unaffected by tropical suns or Arctic snows, but the peculiar British climate did not suit her constitution, and in a few months she succumbed to its influence.
“The only signs of anger that I have known the Spider Monkeys to manifest is a slight shooting out of the lips, accompanied by a short, sharp, impatient sound, something between a whistle and a squeak.”
In a smaller cage may be seen a beautiful specimen of the Squirrel Monkey, sometimes called the Tee-Tee (Callithrix sciureus).
Squirrel.
Squirrel Monkey and Tee-Tee.—[Page 263.]
This pretty and elegant little creature is scarcely larger than a rat, with an innocent, baby-like countenance, and large, full, dark eyes. It may at once be recognised by the pink face with a blackish spot on the nose, and the yellow limbs, contrasting with the olive-coloured back. Its tail is exceedingly long and particularly prehensile, though I have not seen the creature suspend itself by that member, as is the case with the Spider Monkeys.
In common with all its kin, it is a most gentle and delicate little being—quite a lady’s pet—coming to the bars to be caressed, and occasionally uttering the tiniest imaginable squeaklet. It does not possess the selfish, grasping disposition which generally characterises the monkey tribe. On one occasion the keeper gave two slices of orange to itself and the Douroucouli, which inhabits the same cage. Just as the Douroucouli was about to take its piece of fruit, a sharp-eyed and quick-limbed Moustache Monkey, that inhabited an adjoining cage, leaped across the top of its house, dropped along the wires, thrust its arm through the partition, and seized the orange, darting away with its spoil to the farther corner of its cage.
For a few moments I was amusing myself by laughing at the impertinent thief as he sat grinning and chattering defiance to the keeper, and when I turned to see how the Douroucouli bore his loss, I found the Tee-Tee quietly sharing his piece of orange with the bereaved animal. Both were nibbling and sucking away with perfect amity, and they resorted to the same social expedient when another slice of the juicy fruit was put into the cage.