120 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



thing. Even when he is put in a cage for transport to 

 Europe he rushes against the iron bars and sometimes shifts 

 the cage for yards during the night. The Pigmy Hippo is a 

 dear, sensible little beast. The only attempt it makes to regain 

 its freedom is by trying to climb up the walls of his kraal. 

 He is more like a tapir in his ways. A big Hippo will sometimes 

 refuse food for several days after he has been caught, but 

 even the big bulls of the Pygmys I have caught in Liberia took 

 food while they were still in the pit, where they could not 

 move. I used to take pieces of cassada, put them on a stick 

 and hand them down to the animals, who would greedily de- 

 vour them. Surely animals that feed so readily when caught 

 should thrive in captivity if properly cared for. 



When I brought the first animal from the Lofa to Macca, — 

 a five days' trip, — the transport basket proved to be a little 

 too small, so that the Pygmy could not stand up ; but all the 

 same, he never lost his good appetite. I was afraid that he 

 would not be able to stand the excitement and fatigues of 

 this frightful journey, throughout which he was carried by a 

 crowd of howling natives ; but when we arrived at Macca, and 

 I let him out of the basket, he simply shook himself and gaily 

 trotted off. I doubt very much whether one of his big cousins 

 could have survived the journey at all. 



