Private the rest of his days.

Jack was a little South American Capuchin, so called because the markings on the head are not unlike a monk’s cowl. I bought him of Jamrach, who called him a “ Musk Monkey.” Even though he did not smell of musk, there was seldom any unpleasant odour about him. Should any of my friends wish to have a pet monkey, let me advise them to get a South American monkey of the same particular genus ( Ccbus), and never an Old World monkey; these American monkeys are thrice as intelligent as their non-prehensile-tailed relatives; but I know not the reason of this.*

Mr. Blyth tells me that lie long possessed a great favourite of this kind when in India, to which country it had been brought vid Jamaica. It used commonly to roam loose about

SER. III. II

98 jack’s bedtime.

The activity of my monkey was something extra ordinary. He knew well enough when the orders were given to take him to bed, and move him from his comfortable corner under the fender, for he was a lazy rascal and did not like going to bed early or getting up before eleven o’clock in the morning. When bedtime arrived, if not immediately secured before he was aware of his coming fate, he would cry like a naughty child; he was off like a bird, and catch him if you could; no art, no inducements, no devices, ever so cunningly used, would induce him to come within arm’s length, and it was sometimes half an hour’s work to get him at all.

If it be so difficult to catch a monkey in a room, how much more difficult (I thought to myself) must it be to catch the wild monkeys out of the lofty trees in their

native forests, for exportation. I therefore put the following query in the “ Field: ” u I should feel most obliged if any of the correspond-ents who live in monkey countries would kindly tell us how the monkeys that are brought to England, France, Germany, &c., are caught. Are they taken when quite babies, or are traps set for them; and, if so, of what kind? It has always been a puzzle to me to know how the natives can possibly get hold of them, except as

his garden, and never left the premises, which, however, were tolerably extensive. He (or rather she) was exceedingly fond of being nursed, i.e. taken in the lap, when she would commonly purr like a cat, though less audibly.

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quite little things; and even they must have been difficult of capture in the open forest, and troublesome to rear afterwards. I should much like to see a trap that would catch a monkey alive and uninjured. Monkeys are the most knowing and suspicious of the whole animal creation; and I doubt even whether ‘ High Elms,’ # with all his science and knowledge of trapping, would catch a monkey without injuring him and spoiling his sale.”

The following answers were kindly sent to me, first, by Mr. John Mauley, who writes:— 11 In answer to the inquiry by Mr. Buckland, I may say that the country people in the province qt Pernambuco, Brazil, catch both monkeys and parrots by

exposing for their use a spirituous preparation of caha9a (cane rum) and the fruit of the cajd, a species of spondias or hog-plum, for which the animals have a partiality; this partiality I have verified with animals in captivity. John Mauley.”

Secondly, by Mr. J. W. Slade, who says: “ I can corroborate your correspondent John Mauley’s answer to Mr. Buckland, by the following extract from Parkyn’s 1 Life in Abyssinia These monkeys are caught in various ways. One plan adopted by the Arabs of Taka has struck me as most simple, and at the same time as likely to succeed as an}' other; jars

Author of a most excellent book on the art of trapping.

of the common country beer, sweetened with dates and drugged with the juice of the oscJier (.Ascelpias arbored), are left near the places where they come to. drink. The monkeys, pleased with the sweetness of the

beverage, drink largely of it, and, soon falling asleep, are taken up senseless by the Arabs, who have been watching at a distance. Monkeys certainly will get as ”drunk as men ifthey have the chance.—J. W. Slade.’

Another way of catching live monkeys I read in the “ Technologist,” Feb. 1862, No. XIX: “The Sapu-caya nuts are found in Brazil, and are also called by the name of ‘ Pot-plants,’ or 1 Monkey nuts.’ They open by a sort of lid, which falls off, leaving a large opening sufficient for the nuts to fall out. So eager are the monkeys to obtain the nuts, that they will thrust their hand into this opening, which they do with difficulty, and grasp the nuts; but the orifice which admitted the empty hand will not allow the egress of a full one, and the animal will torment itself a long time rather than relinquish its hold. The Indians avail themselves of this cupidity to entrap the monkeys. They open the lids of several capsules, and then throw them under the trees; the greedy monkey will not be satisfied with one pot, but will thrust its hands into two, and will not relinquish its hold; the encumbrance renders its capture easy, and has led to a saying amongst the Brazilians, equivalent to our 1 Old birds are not caught with chaff;’

it is, ‘ He is too old a monkey to be caught by a ca-capsule being called by them a cabomba.”*bornba,’—the

In that admirable work, “ The Naturalist on the Amazons,” by my friend Mr. Bates, I was pleased to read another way of catching monkeys in the forest. Mr. Bates writes: “ The white uakari (Brachyurus calvus) are obtained by shooting them with the blow-pipe and arrows tipped with diluted urari poison. They run a considerable distance after being pierced, and it requires an experienced hunter to track them. He is considered the most expert who can keep pace with a wounded one, and catch it in his arms when it falls exhausted.

j isA pinch of salt, the stated antidote to the poison, then put in its mouth, and the creature recovers.”

I once bought a wretched, forlorn-looking African creature for the sum of 4s. This was real charity to the poor beast, for his u dog-dealing ” master, disgusted with him “ because he cost him 6d. a day to grub him,” had just concluded arrangements for a “ monkey hunt,” which of course did not come off, as the monkey was not

forthcoming.

I have often tried a similar plan with my tame monkeys, but it would not act at all. t The Asiatic monkeys are always captured very young, as J am informod by Mr. Blyth. Great numbers of small juvenile Hitnum&n’s (Semnojoithecus cntellus) and bhunders {Inuus Rhesus) are brought in crowded cages to Calcutta. These two are the only species of monkey that inhabit Bengal; but many others are commonly brought to Calcutta from the Malay countries and elsewhere.

On bringing him home, I found that about an inch of his tail was as hard and dry as the end of a fagot stick. I therefore took out my penknife, and, as I had been taught to do by the owner of the “ Happy Family,” gradually pared it away. I expected every moment Master Monkey would have resisted and shown fight; but no, as long as I gave him no pain he made no resistance whatever, but sat down on the table as quietly as possible, while he looked on as though I was operating on the tail of some other monkey, and laughed and grunted at the fun. At last I pared his tail down close to the living skin and bone, and hurt him a bit. Header, if you have had a corn cut, and been hurt in the operation, you can appreciate the tremendous expostulations and grimaces, on the part of the monkey, which he poured forth with all his might the moment I came down to the u quick of his tail.” The operation was, however, quite successful, and the monkey, after his tail was diminished in size, immediately began to improve in health and in personal appearance. It is a curious fact that monkeys with prehensile tails never gnaw or bite them; they seem to know too well that this ic third hand ” is too valuable to be used for food, even by themselves.

The owner of the “ Happy Family,” told me that the greatest difficulty experienced in making u his family continue in a state of happiness,” is to supply a vacancy caused by death or accident among its members; for, like boys at school, the aborigines surround and tease

the fresh comer.* When it is found desirable to fill up a vacancy in this miscellaneous collection of birds and beasts, the new arrival is placed in a portion of the cage divided and separated from the rest, where free liberty of speech is allowed, but yet “ paws off” is the order of the day; in this manner reconciliations soon take place. There is one animal, however, which, above all others, is difficult to tame—it is the hedgehog.f There is more trouble required with this creature than with any other, for he is of a morose disposition, and timid withal; and it is a long time before he will fraternise with his fellow prisoners, for he coils himself up in a lump, sets his bristles in formidable array, and u the more you stir him up the more he won’t uncoil.” Hares, too, are difficult to tame; and it is a curious fact, that I have learned from several quarters, besides from the poet Cowper, that hares differ much in mental ability, some being very stupid, others very clever. In judging of the performing abilities of a young hare that is about to commence a course of instruction on the drum or tambourine, notice should be taken of the diameter of the forehead, for experience

It is the same in the monkey-house in the Zoological Gardens, whenever a new inmate is introduced. f I do not quite agree with this statement of the showman, that hedgehogs are difficult to tame, for I have had many of thorn; still, however, they will, tinless very tame indeed, coil up at the slightest alarm. Soo my “ Curiosities of Natural History,” Second Series.

has laid it down as a law that, with hares as with men, the more brains they have in their skulls the better learners they become. This is particularly the case

with horses: reader, please observe for yourself.

It has often been a subject of regret to my mind, when reading the accounts of sportsmen and naturalists

of their doings in the pursuit of wild animals (whether in the desert or in the forest), that more attention is not paid to the observation of the habits of the animals, and that their “ social customs ” are not more attended to; for, depend upon it, all animals, whether wild or tame, have their customs and habits as much as wTe have, and of these we know little or nothing. Most animals quickly ascertain the presence of man; in an instant they are on their guard, waiting for their enemy. What can the sportsman then tell of their habits? Let him at this moment (unless pressed by hunger) put down his rifle and take up his telescope, and he will most assuredly learn something he did not know before, and will probably ascertain some fact in natural history hitherto unknown to science.

In reading the accounts of the pursuit of the mighty elephant in the jungle of India, of the watching for the beasts of the forest drinking at midnight at the lone

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