Near the southernmost tip of Africa, within fourteen miles, of Capetown, there was opened in 1952 the Rondevlei bird sanctuary. It is only a mile long and a third of a mile wide, small indeed compared with the great game reserves with which Africa is often associated. Yet it has value altogether out of proportion to its size.

On the credit side can be put increases in the Indian lion and the great Indian rhinoceros.

In 1950 the lion population of the Gir Forest was carefully assessed at 250 (see Oryx, vol. I, No. 2, pp. 99–101). In 1955 a similar census gave 290, an increase of 40 in four years, though the proportion of cubs to adults had decreased.

With the annual increase in the population and the ever deepening human advance into the remoter areas of Ceylon, it has become recognized that the ultimate extermination of the larger fauna of the country is alarmingly close at hand. In fact, only in those reserves that survive the innumerable demands of a rapidly growing country will future generations of Ceylon be able to see their natural heritage in its wild state.

So much of Borneo is still uninhabited by man—it must be the leaśt densely populated part of tropical Asia—that it is difficult to imagine its wild fauna being endangered. Much the larger part of the island is still jungle, visited only (if at all) by nomadic groups. But a few species, conspicuous and attractive to humanity for size, food, medicine or beauty, are to-day in danger in all the four territories (Indonesian Borneo, and the British western section comprising North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei).

“Unless revolutionary steps are taken to safeguard game, it will sooner or later be extinguished outside the reserves. It is imperative that game within the reserves be restricted for its own safety.”

In a foreword to the report, Mr. R. Dreschfield, the chairman, writes: “The tragic loss of Ken Beaton has marred a year of great progress in the parks: a year graced by the visit of Her Majesty the Queen to the Queen Elizabeth Park. The foundations laid by Ken Beaton and the honour of Her Majesty's visit will stand us in good stead for many years to come and will be an inspiration for us to make our two parks second to none.

Cheshire is a county of varied character. On the east the moorlands bordering Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire rise at one point to over 1,900 feet; then comes the fertile plain, which includes the Forest of Delamere and many large parks; further west is the peninsula of Wirral, bounded on either side by the estuaries of Mersey and Dee, and culminating in a short coastline and the three islands of Hilbre.

We shot or otherwise took over 100 foxes in this area during the spring. I opened a great many of them and, apart from a few odd ones, the diet appeared to have gone over to the same as the badger, omnivorous. There is no doubt that foxes are eating quite a lot of vegetable matter where the rabbits have disappeared due to disease, but I have never seen better and healthier foxes than of late, with two exceptions, which, of course, one normally expects, for there are always odd wasters in all species of animals and birds. Those which had full stomachs have invariably contained poultry and/or game, and once a coot, but by far the greater number had empty stomachs with intestines usually full of faeces, mostly vegetable matter. From this I deduce that their varied diet goes through them quickly but is ample to keep them in first-class order. The one exceptional stomach, of a vixen, was full of grass! There has been no case of malnutrition or food-crazy foxes, they are behaving quite normally.

The ring shown in the accompanying photograph was made in mid-July by a roe doe and her twin fawns. The site chosen for their play was an old flint excavation near Brandon in Suffolk. During the early nineteenth century individual miners extracted flint by digging vertical shafts which were later filled in. A large number of crater-like pits and mounds of excavated earth remain and it was around the rim of one of these pits and its nearby mound that the deer chose to train its young. They were observed on several occasions circling rapidly. So frequent were these amazing displays of agility that a track was worn down to the chalky soil.