CHAPTER XVI 



RARE AND UNFAMILIAR ANIMALS 



Even if in the preceding sections of this work we have made the 

 acquaintance of many well-known animals, there have no doubt 

 been several unfamiliar ones which the reader knew very little about, 

 and in this chapter there are quite a number of rare and unfamiliar 

 beasts which may engage attention before we pass on to deal with 

 some Mammals of the Sea and Air. 



These could, of course, have been accorded a place among some 

 of the other sections of which this volume consists, but the result 

 would have been certain unwieldy chapters, and in their present 

 position they may best be considered. There are more than thirty 

 different kinds of animals included in this sixteenth section, and, this 

 being so, it will not be possible to give very elaborate accounts 

 of any of them, the salient and characteristic features alone being 

 dealt with. 



Some of the remarkable creatures here depicted are exceedingly 

 rare, and it is unlikely that any opportunity will be forthcoming of 

 securing fresh photographs of several of them for many a long day, 

 and in this respect may be specially mentioned the White-Headed 

 Saki, White-Thighed Guereza, Bhutan Takin, Walrus, etc. Prob- 

 ably the White-Headed Saki is easily the most extraordinary-looking 

 animal of any included in the representative selection here gathered 

 together, and a few notes concerning it will doubtless be read 

 with interest. 



WHITE-HEADED SAKI. — As may be assumed from an examina- 

 tion of Fig. 224, this is a Monkey, but it is a rare and curious 

 member of that interesting family of wild beasts and hails from 

 Central America. The specimen shown in the photograph arrived at 

 the London Zoo during the Autumn of 1909, and caused sensational 

 interest among zoologists. Unfortunately, however, the wonderful 

 animal only survived for a few days at the Zoo, but not long after- 

 wards another of the rare South American Saki Monkeys reached 

 the famous Gardens in the person of Humboldt's Saki. 



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