22 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



coloured animal to be very conspicuous in the forest trees ; but this is 

 said not to be the case, as the long white hair is deceptively like the 

 tresses of grey lichen which clothe the boughs. This, however, does not 

 apply to the lowland form with shorter hair, which I have seen myself 

 in trees at Wasin on the East African Coast, and noticed it was as 

 conspicuous as a black-and-white cat would have been in a similar 

 situation. 



The fact is, that after studying the colouration of monkeys in general, 

 and the African ones in particular, one is inclined to suppose that it 

 does not much matter what colour these active tree-haunting creatures 

 wear, and it is probable that the long coat of the mountain Guereza is 

 destined as a protection from the cold rather than for concealment from 

 possible enemies. 



The Guereza is described as a gentle, harmless creature, and this 

 character was well borne out by specimens recently exhibited in the 

 London Zoological Gardens, though it must be admitted that both of 

 these were young. 



One was confined along with a specimen of the Angolan Guereza 

 (Colobus angolensis), which is not unlike the typical Guereza in general 

 colour, but has very long drooping white whiskers, and the white hair 

 of the body forming a mantle on the shoulders. These inhabited one 

 of the side cages in the monkey-house, and on one occasion I saw one 

 of them, after playing for some time with the tail of his companion as 

 it hung down through the barred floor of their sleeping box, actually 

 go up to the bedroom, and, holding up the brush of his tail to 

 the other, offer it to him, as if to say, "One good turn deserves 

 another." 



Another specimen of the common Guereza arrived along with a 

 White-tailed Mongoose (Herpestes albicauda], with which it had been 

 living previously ; the two incongruous associates were the most devoted 

 of friends, and always close together. The Mongoose, like the monkey, 

 was a young animal, but was the bigger of the two the White-tailed 

 species being one of the largest of the Mongooses and could easily 

 have disposed of his companion had he wished. He treated him, how- 



