210 THE CARRIAGE OF ANIMALS 



rail or boat in crates. This is perhaps the most humane 

 way of moving them, for they have not to be driven or 

 handled. An axis-deer recently brought from France 

 was enclosed in a large wooden case, with flat boarded 

 bars. It smashed this, though its horns were sawn off, 

 and got loose in the guard's van. Then it attacked the 

 guard, who had to escape on the footboard and stop the 

 train till the creature was secured. An Indian buffalo 

 presented to the Zoological Society by a Rajah on a 

 visit to this country was taken there in a parcel-post van 

 with its head stretching out at the back. Birds are by 

 no means so easy to carry securely as might be imagined. 

 Pigeons often fight when confined in baskets, and birds 

 for showing are sent in low hampers with V-shaped 

 partitions, in each of which a pigeon is stowed away. 

 Prize fowls are placed in tall open-work baskets, in 

 which they can stand upright. Parrots are bad travellers. 

 They generally seize the side of any box or basket in 

 which they are placed with their beaks. This is in 

 order to hold on when carried. Soon they rather like 

 the sensation, and steadily eat a hole in their box. To 

 avoid this a wooden perch should be fastened to the 

 bottom of whatever receptacle they are placed in. 

 Canaries and small birds are often carried in the large 

 cages in which they live. This is a mistake. They are 

 more comfortable and more easily carried in the small 

 close cages which bird-catchers use when travelling. 



