Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/731

CHIMNEY-SWIFT. 635 CHIMPANZEE. the old trees were abandoned for the new chim- neys, the superior attractiveness of which lies in j;roater safety, and in bitter satisfying a racial tendency to inhabit caves. In some northerly dis- lricl> ihesc birds are latterly abandoning clum- ncys lor attics and similarly sheltered, but light, situations. The nest is formed of small twigs, j;lued together by the bird's saliva, shaped like a half-cup, or hollowed bracket, and glued to the in- terior wall of the chimney. The eggs, four to six, are small and pure white; and it is some time after the nestlings are fledged before they are l)eriiiitted to scramble out and try their wings. In these chimneys, or trees, the swifts sleep at night, clinging upright with their long toes to the surface, and supported upon the stiff spine-tipped feathers of the taiL firmly pressed against the wall. In accustomed and favorable places large flocks live together: and one of the most familiar and pleasing e.vhibitions of Amer- ican bird-life is to watch the swifts at sunset circling in a twittering crowd about the chimney- top, into which, as dusk conies on, they drop, one after the other, as if each went down the vortex of a whirlpool. The scientific name of the common species of the United States is Chtritira pelagica. See Plate of Swifts axd Their Xests. CHIMP AN'ZEE ( Guinea ) . An anthropoid ape (Anthropopithecus nifjer) of equatorial Africa, which has been known to Europeans for .500 years. The chimpanzee, though taller than an orang- utan (q.v. ). falls short of the stature of the gorilla, and never exhibits the breadth and mas- sivcness of frame shown by an old male of that species; five feet is a good height for this ani- mal, and no great difference is observable be- tween the sexes. This height is a matter of measurement rather than of observation, how- ever, as the chimpanzee rarely stands upright. and habitually walks bent over and supporting itself upon its long forearms and knuckles, the fingers being bent in ; most of its time, indeed, DENTrnoX op CHIMPANZEE. 13 passed in trees. The range of the genus ex- tends from the Atlantic coast of mid-Africa Vol.. I v.— II. eastward through the forest region to the Nile, from about 10 degrees south to 12 degrees north of the equator. Throughout this great area it seems to be fairly numerous, and is known under many names; llie probability favoring the reality of a second species, discriminated by Uu Chaillu as the bald chimpanzee (A. calviis). They are strictly forest-dwelling animals, haunting the densest jungle and climbing to the topmost branches, where they go about in families or small hands, feeding ahnost wholly upon soft fruits, but varying their diet with grubs, insects, honey, birds' eggs, fledglings, birds, etc. This ap))etite causes them to wander widely in search of fresh food, and in some districts they are grcatl.v destructive of the banana and other plan- tations of the natives. Simply .guarding these plantations, when the fruit is ripe, is usually sufficient to save the crop, since the apes are timid toward men and run when they can : but If cornered they prove very troublesome foes to deal with, showing much courage, and seeking to grasp their enemy in their long arms, chew his hands, and gash his throat with their terrible teeth. Dr. Livingstone and others say that the chimpanzee is a match for the leopard, but is quickly killed (but not eaten) by the lion. The robust natives of the central Sudan chase these animals into the tree-tnps, drive them into traps, and otherwise kill them oft" by regular Imnts. They seem to be largely nocturnal, and often fill the woods with loud, reiterated cries, which are varied through every variety of horrid noise; can be heard a long distance, and seem to be uttered by large troops in concert, though perhaps only a few are really screaming and bellowing together. Such noises doubtless serve the double purpose of keeping the apes wandering through the black- ness of the forest night, within hail of one an- other, and of terrifying possible enemies. No particular sleeping-place seems to be made by this ape. but when one is about to become a mother, the pair build a platform-like nest in a tree-top, upon which the female rests until her young one (twins are only occasional) is born and able to travel. The young are often cap- tured and kept as tame pets, by the negroes and wandering Arabs; and thus for two or three centuries the civilized world has been supplied with living examples. No other of the greater apes is so human in its characteristics, appearance, and intelligence, and numberless accounts exist of the interesting ways and great docility of the animal when properly treated and trained. Though it often becomes morose and savage when old ( if able to survive the jiuhiioiiarv diseases which kill most of its kind in youth), when young it is teachable, af- fectionate, and playful to a remarkalile degree. "Even in a wild state," remarks Wriglit {River- side yattiral History, Vol. V., n. 52G; Boston, 1884), "the chimpanzee appears to indulge the instinct of play, which rcncU'rs it such an attract- ive inmate of the zoological garden. Savage . . . describes bow a hollow tree may be used as a drum to call the voiing ones to play, and how the old folks sit around kee])ing watch, and read.' to administer a rebuke if deserved. So entirely human are the cliimpanzeps in their ways, that the natives of certain trilies believe them to be relations which have been degraded from a former higher state to their present forest life."