tered
by the Rhesus, as nearly as I can represent it by letters, is "nqu-u-w."
The "u" sound is about the same as in the Capuchin word, but on close
examination with the phonograph it appears to be uttered in five
syllables very slightly separated, while the ear only detects two.
One of the most unique of my experiments I made in Central Park, in the
autumn of 1891. I secured a very fine phonograph record of the food
sound of the Rhesus monkeys belonging to the Park. During the following
night there arrived at the Park a shipment of Rhesus monkeys, just from
their home in the east of Asia. There were seven of these new monkeys,
three adult females and four babies, one of whom was left an orphan by
the death of its mother in her passage across the ocean. At my request
the superintendent had these monkeys stored in the vacant room in the
upper story of the Old Armoury building. They had never seen the monkeys
in Central Park, nor had they ever been brought near enough to the
monkey-house for them to learn by any means that any other monkeys were
about. About sunrise I repaired to this room, where I had my phonograph
placed in order, and I enjoined those who were present, by special
permission, not to do anything to attract the attention of the monkeys,
nor under any condition to show them any food or anything to drink.
Having arranged my phonograph, I delivered to them the sounds contained
on my cylinder which I had recorded on the day preceding. Up to this
time not a sound had been uttered by any inmate of the shipping cage.
The instant my phonograph began to reproduce the record, the seven new
monkeys began to answer vociferously. After having delivered this record
to them, I gave them time to become quiet again. I showed them some
carrots and apples, on seeing which they began to utter the same sounds
which they had uttered before, and this time I secured a good record of
their sounds to compare with the others.
[Sidenote: RHESUS MONKEYS]
The alarm-sound as given by the Rhesus is very energetic, but not so
shrill nor sharp as that of the Capuchin, nor have I discovered more
than one such sound. As they are not of a high order of intelligence,
nor kindly disposed unless kept in fear, I have not given them a great
amount of study, but their sounds come more closely to the range of the
human voice than do the sounds of the Cebus, which I regard as the
Caucasian of monkeys.
The Rhesus is not very intelligent, but w
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