The boundaries of the first two national parks in Uganda were approved by the Legislative Council on the 17th July, 1952. Two areas, parts of game reserves already in existence, were chosen.

The Mountain Zebra National Park.—The Mountain Zebra National Park was established with six Cape Mountain Zebras (only one of these a mare) on the 2nd July, 1937, by Proclamation No. 112 of 1937.

The Great Indian One-horned Rhinoceros, probably India's rarest and most interesting animal, occupies a unique position in the world to-day. Listed by the survival service of the International Office for the Protection of Nature as one of the vanishing species which requires all possible steps to be taken for its protection, it has the eyes of scientists, naturalists and others in all parts of the world focussed on it and its habitat.

Even in this age of atomic energy and jet propulsion, the market for elephants is still strong. Their value as a means of extracting timber in thick forests, as a mode of transport in otherwise inaccessible tracts of country and for ceremonial uses has not in the least declined.

There are those who, misled by the elephants' huge size, overestimate their strength, and work them till they break down. Then they decry them as weak and delicate animals. Admittedly elephants are, size for size, about a quarter less strong than a horse and slightly weaker even than man. But with the necessary knowledge of their habits in their wild state, and with proper care and attention, these sagacious and docile creatures will perform a great variety of tasks and get through an enormous amount of heavy work, resulting in an appreciable saving of man-power and complicated mechanical devices.

We left Kismayu by safari truck on the morning of 3rd March, 1950, with the intention of touring the district up to the Kenya border.

We decided to take the Afmadu road, but saw only Dik-Dik on the way, mostly of the greyish Kirk's variety although a few pairs of the prettier Phillips's Dik-Dik were to be seen also. These beautifully-proportioned tiny antelope multiply rapidly in dry bush country such as this, in spite of their many enemies. I have surprised hawks and eagles on a dik-dik “kill” on occasions, and by the neat hole in their skull it has been only too obvious how they were struck down.

The evidence for the existence of a large marsupial “tigercat” in Queensland, Australia, is meagre, and this, together with an absence of tangible relics, makes for a lack of credence. On the other hand, one may go further and suggest that even this little evidence has been accorded an unjustified obscurity. There is, therefore, this much excuse for returning to it, if only to bring the few fragments together for those who may wish to reflect on them.

The African fauna has been subjected to pressure from two far distant sources. In the north the well armed Moors and Arabs have long ruled the land, and it is in this region that the faunal population has been most seriously depleted. The Atlantic Ass, depicted in Roman mosaics, disappeared long ago, the Rufous Gazelle and Bubal Hartebeeste have likewise vanished.

The Kruger National Park, together with the less known national parks of the Union of South Africa, is governed by a Board of ten unpaid Trustees, ultimately responsible to the Minister of Lands. This Board maintains a considerable bureaucratic staff under a paid secretary, with offices in Pretoria. Attached to it are various salaried scientific experts, zoologists, botanists, and others, with such personal staffs as may be found necessary.

The following notes are compiled from the Superintendent's field diaries and refer to the valley of the Tembeling river and its tributaries lying within the National Park.

From information gathered from officers who had fought with the partisans in Crete in the last war and others it had become clear that the agrimi, or wild goat of Crete, Capra hircus œgarus, was in danger of extinction.

The National Audubon Society of New York has been much concerned with the survival of the American flamingo (Phœnicopterus ruber). It has therefore appointed Mr. Robert P. Allen, a Research Associate, to make a complete survey of the status of this flamingo and to co-operate in its protection with individual organizations and governments in the countries concerned.

It is, I think, common knowledge that in the course of the war the defences of Gibraltar were strengthened, the garrison reinforced, and the civilian population largely evacuated. But there was another notable measure taken which, so far as I know, has escaped publicity. It is not easy to come by information on the affairs of Gibraltar, but the local belief is that during a brief official visit to the Rock, Mr. Churchill became aware that the famous Apes had so decreased in numbers as to make their continued existence precarious. Conscious, no doubt, of our Society's good purpose, and aware, perhaps, of the age-long belief that if ever the Apes should come to an end a like fate would befall our possession of Gibraltar, the Prime Minister gave an urgent order that the Apes should be increased by such a number as would ensure their preservation. This was done by an importation of monkeys of the same species (Macaca, sylvana) from Barbary, across the Straits, and these are now, to all appearance, well established in their new home. Their location is about half-way up the Rock, and accessible by road. A soldier of the garrison has charge of them and notice boards here and there request visitors “not to touch or feed the roaming Apes”, but in practice no objection is made if anyone wishes to give them fruit. Judging by the number of young ones, the Apes have multiplied since their arrival and the total colony appears to amount now to about twenty.

An Official Report has reached us on a Conference of Authorities on Australian Fauna and Flora held at Hobart, Tasmania, from 7th to 9th December, 1949. This conference was convened by the Animals and Birds Protection Board of Tasmania, a member of our Society. All States except Queensland were represented.

New Zealand might be described as a land of surprises done up in very small parcels. It has many minerals, but these, owing to past upheavals, are seldom in payable quantities. Distributed over the country in pockets, they affect the soil which, in turn, has a bearing upon plant and bird life. Due to this and climatic conditions a botanist will find different plants as he passes from Norfolk Island towards the Antarctic. Some of them occur in one small area and nowhere else.

Although scattered and greatly reduced in numbers, Hartmann's Zebras (form(s) of Mountain Zebra) still seem to occur over practically the whole mountainous coastal region of South-West Africa, west of the Namib, from the Orange River in the south to beyond the Cunene in the north.

During 1950 and early 1951 I was fortunate enough to be able to study and observe the state of wild life in South Ethiopia, a privilege that few Europeans can claim in recent years. The area concerned lies north of the Kenya border and stretches from Lake Rudolf in the west, eastwards some 500 miles to Dolo and beyond into the Bale-Ogaden territory, including the Provincesof Sidamo-Borana and Gamu-Gofa (but excluding North Sidamo and the Omo River).

In Oryx, Vol. I, No. 3, the translation was published of an article by Heinz Heck entitled “The Breeding-back of the Aurochs”. In this Herr Heck described his experiments in resurrecting the aurochs, the wild ancestor of all present-day breeds of European cattle which became extinct over 300 years ago. The method used he calls “breeding-back” in which the aim is to direct the race back to a common ancestor. From skeletal remains and contemporary descriptions and paintings it was known what the aurochs looked like: a large neat, the bulls black with a broad yellowish-white stripe down the back and the cows red-brown; both sexes had white colouring round the muzzle and long, strong, curved, pale horns with black tips.

That the Government of Tanganyika is taking seriously its obligations under the 1933 International Convention for the Protection of African Fauna and Flora, is shown by the draft of the new Game Bill. The explanatory note particularly reflects an appreciation of the value of wild life and a realization that the world to-day is watching with growing concern the depreciation of the fauna of Africa. It will hardly be disputed that the new Bill exceeds in courage and imagination any game preservation legislation previously attempted in the country, and it will be the earnest hope of lovers of nature everywhere, particularly of the members of the Fauna Preservation Society, that the effort meets the success which it deserves.

The interest of members of the Society in the fate of the Red Squirrel and its presumed supplantation by the Grey has led to an interesting inquiry. The Director-General of the Nature Conservancy, Captain Cyril Diver, very kindly got in touch with Mr. Charles Elton, of the Bureau of Animal Population, who sent for our use a report by Miss Monica Shorten of a survey carried out by her in 1944–45 on the distribution of the two squirrels. Captain Diver also consulted Sir William Ling Taylor, C.B.E., late Director-General of the Forestry Commission, who has kindly allowed us to make use of the reply he gave. We have also to thank Dr. Maurice Burton for his article “The Chequered Story of Red Squirrels” in the Illustrated London News of 7th April, 1951.

In 1948, by Act of Parliament, New South Wales established a Fauna Protection Panel for the care and protection of her native fauna. The Panel consists of 14 members including the Chairman, Mr. F. J. Griffiths, who has the title of Chief Guardian of Fauna. The Deputy Chairman is Mr. E. J. Hallstrom, President of the Taronga Zoological Park Trust. The Sydney University is represented by its Professor of Zoology. There is one member representing rural interests. The Linnean Society and Royal Zoological Society are represented. The Wild Life Protection Society of Australia is represented by its Honorary Secretary, Mr. A. A. Strom.