146 
ELEPHANT LIFE IN ENGLAND 
The strangely artificial revival of elephant life in 
the countries north of the Mediterranean, and in 
districts where the bones of the fossil species show 
that they once lived and flourished naturally, is yearly 
more remarkable. The European elephant herd in 
the present year numbers one hundred and thirteen, 
or about thirty less than the annual catch in the 
keddahs of the Indian Government. Their health 
seems quite independent of climate, to judge from 
the countries in which they are kept, often with very 
rough provision against the chances and changes of 
weather. Russia owns eighteen, Sweden and Norway 
four, France and Belgium ten each, seven of which 
are in the great travelling menagerie of the Lockharts, 
which migrates to and fro across the Franco-Belgian 
frontier; Germany has thirty-four, and England about 
the same number; Holland has eight, and Italy two. 
The British stock is at present supplied almost 
entirely from Burmah. There only in the East 
elephants are bred in a half-wild state and not caught 
