The red-billed curassow, or mutum, Crax blumbachii formerly occurred from southern Bahia to Rio de Janeiro in south-east Brazil, although only a few specimens were ever obtained. Europeans settled this region early, and it was feared that hunting pressure and, later, habitat destruction had brought the species to the verge of extinction when in 1970 Sick discovered a population about 60 km north of Linhares, Espirito Santo, in and near what is now the Reserva de Sooretama. This forest reserve is now the only place where the bird is known. A few may survive in relict forest tracts in southern Bahia, although the last record, a specimen, was collected in 1944. The specimen from eastern Bolivia which Gyldenstolpe assigned to this species was certainly a variant of C. globulosa. On a recent trip to Brazil we found that almost all the forest in north-east Espirito Santo, where this curassow formerly occurred, had been cleared, much of it within the year. Dr Augusto Ruschi (pers. comm.) confirms that the rate of forest destruction, mainly for charcoal, has accelerated markedly in the past decade. The main sources for information on the species are Prince Maximilian of Wied and Sick.

The leopard Panthera pardus tulliana survives in south-west Turkey, but after a two-month survey there for the World Wildlife Fund, the author shows that numbers are so small and the people's attitudes so hostile that this subspecies is probably doomed to extinction; leopards found in eastern Turkey are the Persian subspecies saxicolor. Other large predators are disappearing too, and the author urges the need to establish several large reserves, for which the Turkish Government's planned wildlife survey will provide the data.

The wildlife of the Jordanian deserts was shot out in the 1950s. As a first step towards restoring it, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature in Jordan has set up a captive breeding unit at its Shaumari Reserve, eight miles from the great oasis of Azraq. Though the first occupants are likely to be gazelles, by the time this issue appears there may well be four male Arabian oryx also. These, the foundation of what it is hoped will be the first captive herd of Arabian oryx in Arabia deriving from Operation Oryx, have been presented to Jordan by the Trustees of the World Herd of Arabian Oryx, now located at Phoenix and San Diego Zoos in the USA. There are a number of other captive herds of local origin already in the Arabian peninsula, including the well known one in Qatar.

The Director of National Parks in Senegal and a well-known European conservationist survey the wildlife, especially mammals, of this conservation-conscious West African country, where three new national parks have been declared in the last eighteen months. One of the highlights of the enormous Niokolo-Koba park is the giant Lord Derby's eland Taurotragus derbianus of which there are now over 400.

The chamois in the Appennine Mountains of central Italy are reduced to under 400 animals scattered in a few places in the Abruzzo National Park. Shooting outside the park and the presence of livestock and shepherd dogs make it impossible for the chamois to spread. A field study is now being made and reinrroductions are planned.

Round Island, off Mauritius, is a classic example of the disasters that can follow the introduction of potential pests such as goats and rabbits on a small island. Their destruction of the vegetation inevitably leads to the destruction of the wildlife, and on Round Island this includes four reptiles that are endemic, several that are local to Mauritius and its islands, and several endemic plants. The author was a member of a scientific party which spent five weeks studying the island in July and August 1975.

Commercial hunting, habitat destruction, poaching, competition with domestic livestock and infection by their diseases, especially foot-and-mouth, have all contributed to reduce the once extremely abundant venado to an estimated wild population today of about 80 animals. The author with other Argentinian scientists is making a study, financed by WWF, in preparation for management plans that it is hoped will save this endangered deer.

A resident in Hong Kong describes this British colony's trade in wild animals, as reported by a group of interested observers who kept a watch on markets and shops, coupled with the inadequate government statistics. The bulk of the trade is with China, but imports also include rhino horn and enormous quantities of ivory from Africa.

Morocco still has wild areas and wildlife to save. But conservation is linked with forestry and where there is conflict forestry takes priority, says the author, who spent six months there in 1975 on a WWF commission. Destruction of birds as well as their habitat was widespread. The need for outside help to provide conservation education particularly in the forest service is urgent.