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.

In his article “Wild Life in Southern Ethiopia” (Oryx, vol. 1, No. 6, page 288), Captain D. S. Sorrell says that he believes that the dibatag (Ammodorcas clarkei) has never been recorded outside the Mudugh province of Somalia, and that it is in danger of soon becoming extinct. These remarks create a wrong impression, and I write to give some additional information on the distribution of this interesting antelope.

Man is dependent on his natural environment, and not all the modern developments of science can alter this fact. This, the ecology of mankind, may be considered in three ways: the economic, which is the use of the soil and mineral wealth; habitation, which is living space; and recreation. Modern man, during a short time each year travels and becomes a nomad as his ancestors were. Sometimes he wishes to be at one with nature, to visit mountains, valleys or the sea shore, and this is the only aspect of his travels with which “nature protection and tourism” is concerned. To what extent then can nature protection co-operate with tourism and, where they seem incompatible, how can their difficulties be resolved ?

Nature protection depends upon the knowledge and love of nature in contemporary mankind and finding this rather meagre, acknowledges in tourism a means of arousing it.

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was signed in 1946. It is one of the better examples of healthy international co-operation. This brief article endeavours to give some indication of the scope of the Convention itself and of the Commission which meets annually. For further information it is most convenient to look first at the articles and notes which appear from time to time in the Polar Record and in Norsk Hvalfangst Tidende. The latter journal in its issue for July, 1952, sets out the Convention and its Schedules in full.

The European brown and black rats probably reached Jamaica by the earliest ships. In any case these prolific rodents, along with the equally prolific cane-piece rat, have always been a tremendous problem on sugar estates, and for several hundred years estate owners have found it necessary to expend large sums for rat catching.

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.

The present condition of those parts of the Islands affected by the explosion, particularly of those parts with evidence of radioactive contamination, is still a secret even if fully known. Furthermore, it will be many years before the final effects of delayed radiation can be assessed; so any speculations that can be made about the survival of animal species must be very tentative ones.

Like that of several other British mammals the distribution of the polecat has not yet been fully investigated. For one thing, being a creature of the night and mainly haunting sparsely inhabited uplands or the wilder parts of the lowlands, it is a difficult and often inaccessible subject for study. There is the further complication that ferrets, which are apparently not descended from our polecat but, some authorities say, from a North African species, have for many centuries been escaping and crossing with wild polecats so that perhaps nowhere can the polecat be claimed to be a “pure” species. Besides, rabbiters frequently interbreed tame polecats with ferrets. The resulting polecat-ferrets, usually piebald creatures, have been used for rabbiting in various parts of Britain, where many have escaped and formed local populations of “polecats”. This spread of polecat-ferrets has been much accelerated by the intensification of rabbiting which has taken place since 1939 and accounts for the many recent “polecat” records from areas known not to hold true wild polecats : the Home Counties, the Isle of Man, Mull, etc. Since these hybrids usually show much cream on back, head, or flanks, it might be thought that, being easily separated from genuine polecats, they would not complicate the distribution-map. Unfortunately some of these hybrids, and we do not know how numerous they may be, are all dark and indistinguishable from wild polecats. There are several apparently reliable accounts from central Wales of white female ferrets going wild for a few weeks and eventually returning to captivity leading families of absolutely dark young “polecats”. And since these may quite easily be sold elsewhere in Britain, it is not surprising that very genuine looking “polecats” turn up in unexpected places.

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.

The Canadian Wildlife Service is a Division of the National Parks Branch, Department of Resources and Development. It deals with wild life questions coining within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of Canada, except certain matters handled by the National Museum and some other matters closely related to Indian Affairs. Its responsibilities may be grouped in the following items:—

To advise the National Parks Service and to co-operate with it in dealing with fish and wild life problems in the National Parks of Canada.

My home was on the edge of Epping Forest and my father, the late Edward North Buxton, was a very active verderer of that forest for practically the whole of his life. He was moreover in the forefront of the fight to save the forest as an open space for the public. From very early days I was constantly in the forest and at once began to take an interest in its deer.

Under sponsorship of the Society of the Friends of the Trees of Lebanon and of UNESCO, a conference of scientists from the Near and Middle East was held at Beirut from 3rd–9th June, 1954. Mr. Edward Graham, Director of Plant Technology, attended from Washington, Lieut.-Colonel C. L. Boyle came from Britain, on behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves and the Fauna Preservation Society.

The Faunal List of Tristan is thus so far as at present known made up as follows:—

For a small group of islands inhabited by people of European stock for over 125 years, the record of only one species rendered extinct (and that survived by an almost indistinguishable cousin) is better than average and should be easily maintained provided—

(a) the idea of properly “farming” birds is firmly inculcated into the islanders. Abstention from exploitation of scarcer species should be easy so long as the adequate provisioning of the island can be maintained.

This paper deals with two ideas that are not new but which are too often forgotten. The writer can speak only from North American experience, but these ideas have worldwide importance. They are that wild life preservation is complete only when the species concerned are maintained in their natural surroundings; and that preservation efforts often fail because of blind faith in reserves while the importance of environment is ignored.

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.

In Britain there are three snakes, three lizards, three frogs (two of them introduced), two toads and three newts. This poor list, only fourteen species, can be explained by the intense cold of a past Ice Age, during which it is doubtful whether any of these cold-blooded creatures survived. If not, they must have returned after the melting of the snows and glaciers. During the great thaw Britain was for some thousands of years still connected with the Continent. Then, as the sea-level rose and a certain amount of earth-sinking took place, much of the land became waterlogged. Finally, about 8,000 years ago, the last land bridge was severed, the sea cut through to form the Straits of Dover, and Britain became an island. It should be noted that all our species are found also on the Continent, and that they diminish in numbers and species as one travels north. Ireland has the poorest supply, since it was the first to break away.