LIVING ANIMALS IN THE POST 
49 
magpie, or a woodpecker, are now to be seen on this moorland 
waste ; and owing no doubt to the exigencies of game preserva- 
tion and the cruel pole trap, those noble hawks, the peregrine, 
buzzard and kite are all gone, and the useful owls, kestrel and 
merlin are seldom to be seen. May the Wild Birds Protection 
Acts and County Council Orders soon begin to have good results, 
some of our rarer wild birds perhaps returning to give pleasure to 
all Nature lovers. 
It may be interesting to mention that a fine herd of white 
cattle, very strongly resembling the Chartley breed, are to be 
found at Lamphey Court, near Tenby, in South Wales ; they are 
said to belong to an old Welsh breed, but in colour and general 
appearance it is difficult to distinguish them from the Chartley 
animals. May not these Welsh cattle also be direct descendants 
of the original British wild ox ? 
John R. B. Masefield. 
Rosehill, Cheadle, Staffordshire , 
Feb. 15, 1898. 
LIVING ANIMALS IN THE POST. 
E know from the Postmaster-General’s annual reports 
that living animals are frequently sent by post. 
Amongst these have been specified snakes, rats, frogs, 
and a kitten provided with a feeding bottle with tube 
attached. Now the suffering which transmission through the 
Parcels Post entails upon the poor creatures committed to the 
Post Office can scarcely be appreciated by those who are 
ignorant of the exact workings of that great Department of the 
State. Let us draw aside for a moment the veil which divides 
the official from the unofficial world. We will suppose that a 
parcel of frogs is handed in at a Post Office, say in the vicinity 
of Great Andrew Street. The parcel is neatly packed in a small 
box, with no indication upon it as to the name of the sender, or 
as to the nature of its contents. It is placed amongst other 
parcels, with no regard, necessarily, to which side is uppermost, 
so that the frogs may be just as likely upon their backs as upon 
their legs, and probably packed in such a way that it is impos- 
sible for them to right themselves ; there they await the collect- 
ing van as it goes its round to the various offices in the district. 
The parcel, unless it be marked “fragile,” is counted with others 
into a bag or sack, and it may be placed in any conceivable 
position or place in the sack. The sackful finds its way into 
the van, either by being lifted carefully thereinto, or by being 
swung upwards with a “ one, two, three,” like a carcase of 
butcher’s meat. The parcels marked “fragile” are carefully 
eliminated in the counting process, and if the frogs be so 
marked they escape the trial of the sack, and the sole discomfort 
