The acquisitive energy of a monkey-swarm must be witnessed to be
credited. In the banana-gardens of the _tierra caliente_ a
Mexican capuchin monkey will exhaust his business opportunities
with the dispatch of a Cincinnati bank cashier; but, in his
attempt to reach the Canadian side of the hedge with a good
armful of plunder, so often falls a victim to the pursuing
dogs that monkey-trappers frequently rent an orchard for the
special purpose of capturing the retreating marauders. In
spite of their mischievous petulance, nearly all the Old World
species of our four-handed kinsmen are emotionally sympathetic
and ever ready to rescue their wounded friends at the risk of
their own lives. At the cry of a captured baby baboon the whole
tribe of passionate four-fisters will rush in regardless of
consequences, and a similar tendency of cooperation may have
given our hairy forefathers a superior chance of survival and
secured their victory in their struggle for existence against
their feline rivals. Their list of original sins may have
included gluttony, covetousness and violence of temper, but
hardly a penchant for wanton bloodshed. With the exception of
the fox-headed lemurs and the ultra-stupid marmosets, nearly
all our simian relatives evince symptoms of a character-trait
which might be defined as an instinctive aversion to cruelty.
Menagerie monkeys indulge their love of gymnastics by frequent
scuffles; but the sight of a bona fide fight awakens a chorus of
shrieks expressing a general protest rather than an emotion of
fear or even partizan interest, for in an open arena the stouter
members of the obstreperous community are sure to rush in and
part the combatants.--FELIX OSWALD, _Popular Science
Monthly_.
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