X1V INTRODUCTION 
responsible for restocking the London and Whipsnade Zoos. After 
this came three years as Curator of Mammals and Birds at Re 
gent’s Park. 
The collecting of wild animals, their boxing and transport by 
land, sea or air, is one of the most exacting jobs imaginable, with 
very little financial return at the end of it, but it has its compensa- 
tions. It takes one all over the world and provides a never-ending 
variety of interests that few other callings can offer. During his 
search after specimens, Webbie has visited every continent in the 
world, in many cases traveling through hitherto unexplored 
jungles and forests. His patience is monumental, not only with 
animals but with human beings, for on many occasions he has 
spent days overcoming superstitions and legends which semi- 
hostile tribes associated with the rare creatures he wished to collect. 
Although the greater part of his life has been spent in the 
capturing of wild animals, he has an intense hatred of cruelty and 
suffering and has always taken the greatest care and trouble to 
prevent this by devising traps and methods of trapping which do 
not involve pain and distress to wild creatures. Many of the traps 
described in this book are unique and their details have not been 
published elsewhere. He has always made a point of bringing 
back his specimens in perfect condition. He deprecates the modern 
tendency of crowding animals into small boxes and crates to save 
space and gain money. During his collecting days his motto was 
always quality before quantity, and he was respected for it. 
No animal is too large or too small for him. I have seen him 
dealing with a fractious elephant and calming a bunch of nervous 
giraffes with perfect equanimity, and to see him handle a hum- 
ming-bird or a pygmy shrew is to realize his complete understand- 
ing of wild creatures. 
His experiences in Madagascar, where he was marooned for six 
years during the Second World War, are particularly interesting, 
especially when he became for a time an unofficial British agent 
during the Vichy régime on the island. He has never kept a 
day-to-day diary so that most of this book has been written from 
memory, no mean feat in itself, for there is a wealth of detail about 
events that happened many years ago. 
He has an unconquerable spirit and a quiet sense of humor that 
