[Footnote Z: So called from a noise made by this animal which has that
sound.]
This animal (_fig. 217._) is smaller than the tamarin, being not above
six inches long, including the head; his tail is more than double that
length, and annulated with black and white rings, like that of the
maucauco, yet at the same time it is more bushy than that animal's.
The face of the ouistiti is naked, and of a flesh colour. He has two
very singular tufts of long white hair on the fore part of the ears,
which entirely conceals them when we look at the animal full in the
face. Mr. Parsons has given a good description of this animal in the
Philosophical Transactions; and Mr. Edwards has given a very good
figure of it: he speaks of having seen several of them, and says that
the largest did not weigh above six ounces, and the smallest only
four and a half: he very judiciously observes, that the supposition
of the small Ethiopian monkey, which Ludolph speaks of by the name of
_fonkes_, or _guereza_, being the same animal as the ouistiti, has
no foundation. It is very certain that neither the ouistiti, nor any
other sagoin, is to be met with in Ethiopia; and it is very probable
that the _fonkes_, or _guereza_, of Ludolph, is either the _maucauco_,
or the _loris_, which are common in the southern parts of the Old
Continent. Edwards farther says, that when the ouistiti (sanglin) is
in good health he has a great deal of hair, and very bushy; that one
of those which he saw, and which was healthy, fed upon several things,
as biscuits, fruits, herbs, insects, and snails; that being one day
unchained, he darted at a little gold fish in a glass globe, which
he killed, and devoured with the greatest avidity; that afterwards
some small eels were presented him, which frightened him at first, by
twisting about his neck, but that he soon conquered and ate them. Mr.
Edwards adds a fact which proves that these little animals might be
multiplied in the southern parts of Europe. He says that they produced
young in Portugal, where the climate is favourable to them. At first
they have an ugly appearance, having scarcely any hair on their bodies;
and they cling close to the teats of their dam. When they grow a little
older they fix themselves on her back or shoulders, and when she is
weary of carrying she releases herself by rubbing them off against the
wall, which being done, the father, if he is by, will allow them to get
upon his back.
_Distinctive Characters of this Species._
The ouistiti has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws nor
callosities on his posteriors. His tail is flaccid, very bushy, with
alternate annulated bars of black and white, or rather brown and
grey, and is as long again as the head and body. The partition of the
nostrils is very thick, and the apertures are placed at the side. The
head is round, and cloathed with black hair above the forehead, and
above the nose is a white spot without hair. His face is almost all
naked, and of a deep flesh colour. He has a tuft of long white hair on
each side of the head before the ears. His ears are round, flat, thin,
and naked. His eyes are of a chesnut colour. His body is covered with
a soft, grey, ash-coloured hair; his throat, breast, and belly, of a
light grey, with a slight tincture of yellow. He walks on all fours,
and is often not above six inches long. The females are not subject to
the periodical emanation.