Some naturalists separate the Talapoin from the genus, and classify it
in one of its own under the title Myiopithecus.
The third group of the Guenons is represented by the well-known Monkey
called
THE GREEN MONKEY.[44]
It has its classical name from two words which mean beauty and hair
(κάλλος and θρίξ-τρίχος), and it must not be confounded with the
Callitricha of Buffon, which is the same as the Grivet Monkey whose
figure was drawn by the Egyptians.
[Illustration: GORILLA. (_See pp. 6–30._)
(_From the Living Specimen in the Zoological Gardens, London._)]
The Green Monkeys live in Senegal, and extend as far south as the
River Niger, for it was on the borders of that river that Adanson,
a French naturalist, noticed their collecting in great troops. The
little Monkeys were astonished at his appearance, and as they rushed
off into the forest they broke off, either purposely or by accident,
little branches from the tops of the trees, whose falling relieved the
stillness of the woods. He indulged in some very cruel sport at their
expense, for although they had been so silent and noiseless in their
gambols, he shot one or two without the others being frightened. But
when the greater part were more or less wounded, they began to get
under cover from the shot, some to swing behind large branches, some
coming to the ground, and the majority jumping from the top of one
tree to another. Whilst this little scene (_petite manège_) was going
on, this scientific brute still continued to fire on them, and finally
he killed twenty-three in less than half an hour. This he did in the
space of about one hundred and thirty feet, and yet not one screamed,
although they often assembled together, knitting their brows and
grinding their teeth, as if they intended to attack him. Broderip, in
noticing this, writes, “I wish they had, with all my heart.”
They have in common with the other Guenons a fondness for particular
parts of their forests, and one band will prevent another from entering
its favourite haunts and this regard for companionship and locality
is even seen when they are in captivity. Restless, irritable, and
irascible they are ever at play, and fighting among themselves, but
they will turn to expel a stranger.
It is said that this Monkey has obtained an American home, and that it
was introduced with slaves into the Island of St. Kitts. Many escaped
into the woods, and have increased considerably in number, so as often
to pillage the plantations.
We introduce a kind here whose elegance of colour is great, principally
to give a good notion of the general aspects of the Guenons, when not
on all-fours, and also of the furtive look in the eyes of tamed kinds.
THE RED-BELLIED MONKEY.[45]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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