In form the vicuna resembles the guanaco, but it is smaller and slenderer. Its colour is not easy to describe and in South America people simply refer to “vicuña colour” which varies from pale fawn, through vermilion and golden to strongly fulvous. The vicuña has no black on its face as has the guanaco. From the throat to the knees there is a pure white tuft, the belly and inner sides of the limbs are white also. The vicuña stands from 28 to 35 inches (70 to 90 cm.) high at the shoulder, its average size decreasing from south to north. Its wool is shorter but much finer than that of the guanaco and is probably the finest and lightest wool in the world.

America's magnificent system of national parks and monuments is a tribute to one of the salient characteristics of the American people—a consciousness of civic responsibility to each other. In a culture often accused of being dollar-mad, some twenty-four million acres of the finest primeval land available has been reserved at the insistence of the people, to be protected inviolate for the benefit of future generations. In addition, fourteen million acres in the national forests have been set aside as Wild and Wilderness Areas, where no roads may be built, seventeen and a half million acres are devoted to federal wildlife protection and management, and many millions of acres are protected as state parks and privately owned sanctuaries. This is a proud achievement, attained because the people as a whole recognize that the wisest use of these lands is the perpetuation of their aboriginal condition, as representative of the once vast wilderness that clothed the continent.

A study of the vegetation map of Tanganyika, Gillman, 1949, reveals three main plant associations. In the northern division the predominating vegetation is bush and thicket, wooded grassland and grassland. Here much Acacia country and scenery reminiscent of Kenya will be found. The other divisions are the western and south-eastern where the familiar catena—woodland, wooded grassland, valley grassland—is repeatedly represented.

In a foreword to the report Mr. R. Dreschfield, the Chairman, writes: “There has been steady and thorough work in the field of game preservation. The wardens have got to know their areas, have set up ranger posts, have practically stopped poaching, and have carried on considerable research into the game. This is our most important work and the work to which we, as trustees, are by law committed. The long title to the Ordinance which is the fount of our existence reads: ‘An Ordinance to provide for the Establishment of National Parks for the purpose of preserving Wild Animal Life, Wild Vegetation, and providing for other matters incidental thereto.’ Necessary, therefore, as it is to provide transport, accommodation, and observation facilities within the parks, we and the public must remember that these activities are only incidental to our main purpose.

The fourth General Assembly of the I.U.P.N. was held at Copenhagen from 25th August to 3rd September, 1954, under the presidency of Dr. C. J. Bernard, who may be called the founder of the Union. His term of office being over, he is succeeded by Professor Roger Heim of France. Delegates and observers came from the U.S.A., Japan, India, Peru, New Zealand, U.S.S.R. and nearly all European countries. Among the British delegation were Lord Hurcomb, President of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, Mr. Max Nicholson, Director-General of the Nature Conservancy, Dr. J. Berry, Director of the Nature Conservancy for Scotland, and Lieut.-Colonel C. L. Boyle, Secretary of the Fauna Preservation Society.

Nature protection in the scientific sense began in Denmark in 1844 when a peat bog to the north of Copenhagen was protected by royal edict. Throughout the nineteenth century many other areas ranging from dune and heathland to single trees, were acquired by the government for protection. The Danish Association for Nature Protection was founded in 1911, followed in 1917 by the passing of the first nature protection act.

The first record of the eider breeding in the Netherlands was a report in 1906 by the German ornithologist, O. Leege. He gave the site as the island of Vlieland, north-east of Texel. Few further such observations were made until 1925 when I myself estimated the total number of breeding females on Viieland as ten, chiefly in the western part. Since then protective measures have been taken. A keeper has regularly visited the reserved area, eggs have been protected from herring gulls as far as possible, and when a breeding bird has accidentally been flushed, her eggs have been covered up with down.

In 1922 the Animals Protection and Game Act set out a list of protected birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibia, and specified that it was illegal to have their skins eggs, and feathers in private possession. As a commentary on the predominance of birds in the New Zealand fauna, the entries in this list under the heading “Birds” filled just short of four pages, whilst under “Mammalia” appeared only the two native bats, under “Reptiles” the tuatara and under “Amphibia” two native frogs.

In the preparation of a book on the Atlantic grey seal, Halichoerus grypus, some rough figures of its population were obtained. These show an alarming decrease everywhere, except in British waters where numbers have been maintained and even increased in the last decade.

Although roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, are at present fairly widely distributed in Britain, and in many areas are undoubtedly increasing and extending their range, their numbers and numerical trends vary greatly in different localities. It is, moreover, apparent that the status of the species, in given habitats, is conditioned by factors other than human control and the availability of adequate cover and keep. Relevant comparison may be made between the respective success and failure of attempts to reintroduce roe to Dorset and to Epping Forest. The increase of roe after their release near Milton Abbas, in Dorset, about the year 1800, was remarkably rapid and within a few decades they had become common in almost all suitable localities in the county. During the two world wars, particularly the 1939–1945 war, they suffered heavy casualties at the hand of farmers and others, yet in the opinion of many observers roe actually increased in Dorset during these periods.