_Colobus kirkii_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1868, p. 180, pl. xv.; id., Cat.
Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 127 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 25
(1876); Kirk, Ann. and Mag. N. H. (5), xiii., p. 307 (1884).
_Guereza kirkii_, Trouess., Consp. Mamm., p. 14 (1879).
_Piliocolobus kirki_, Rochebr., Faun. Sénég., Mamm. Suppl., p. 112, pl.
vi. (1887).
CHARACTERS.--Face and ears naked, bluish-black; tip of the nose
greyish-white; head, with long divergent hairs, forming a kind of cap, bent
backwards over the forehead; crown of head, back, and tail, reddish-brown,
paler towards the extremity; the nape, shoulders, arms, outer and anterior
aspects of the fore-arms, the centre of the outer aspect of the thighs and
legs, and the hands and feet, black; forehead, cheeks, chest, front aspect
of the shoulders, the whole of the under side of the body, {90}and the
inner side of the limbs, white; anterior aspect of the lower part of the
arm, the hind-margin of the fore-arms, and the anterior and posterior
aspects of the thighs and legs, greyish-white. (_Gray._) Length of body,
25½ inches; of tail, 31 inches.
DISTRIBUTION.--Island of Zanzibar. This Monkey was first sent to Europe by
Sir John Kirk in 1868. Its discoverer, writing in 1884, says that even in
1868 the Monkey was rare, but was still to be found in many of the wooded
districts of that island. He writes: "I am not aware that it has been found
in Pemba Island or on the mainland; and now I discover that, if not
extinct, it has become so rare as not to be procurable, even when I sent
the hunters over the island. I have a report that it exists still in one
spot, which they could not reach. I believe that two specimens were sent to
Germany some time ago; but it looks as if the animal will be lost to
science. This is due to the destruction of forest and jungle over the
island."
"_Colobus kirkii_," writes Mr. H. H. Johnston, in 1886, "had disappeared
from nearly every part of the island of Zanzibar, but a rumour prevailed
that it still lingered on a clump of forest as yet unvisited by hunters.
Thither Sir John sent his _chasseurs_ to report on the Monkey's existence.
After a week's absence they returned, triumph illumining their swarthy
lineaments. 'Well, did you find them?' asked the British Consul General.
'Yes,' replied the men with glee, 'and we killed them every one!' wherewith
twelve Monkey-corpses were flung upon the floor, and _Colobus kirki_ joined
the Dodo, the Auk, the Rhytina and the Moa, in the limbo of species
extinguished by the act of man."