vi INTRODUCTION 
agents, but without demur he at once agreed to the corre- 
sponding reduction in price. Mr. Hagenbeck, however, 
takes much more than a business interest in his business, and 
I am glad to have the opportunity of acknowledging with all 
gratitude his readiness to place the results of his long ex- 
perience at the service of the Zoological Society of London. 
Again and again he has given me information of great value 
on questions relating to the transport and housing of animals 
and on their feeding and treatment. It is a pleasure to me 
to introduce to English readers a book in which is displayed 
so many of the strange experiences and so much of the 
remarkable personality of this most interesting man. 
Every one has seen something of the business of a dealer 
in animals in its primitive form. Near the London Docks, 
and on the quays of great shipping ports like Havre and 
Marseilles, there are to be found untidy and generally evil 
smelling little shops crowded with parrots and monkeys, and 
similar casual acquisitions from sailors. The proprietors tend 
to become importers in a small way. They find out what 
creatures they can sell most readily, and give orders to sailors 
or petty officers, sometimes on speculation and sometimes at 
the request of customers. With a few notable exceptions, 
however, such small dealers never learn their trade. The 
birds and mammals they obtain have in many cases been 
improperly fed and very badly packed, with the result that 
the mortality is great and the stamina of the survivors is at a 
low ebb. There can be no doubt but that in many cases the 
reputation for delicacy acquired by many exotic birds and 
mammals is due merely to the senseless fashion in which they 
are brought home. They are captured in some tropical 
forest and rushed down to the coast with a minimum supply 
of what is supposed to be their natural food. The transition 
