Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of 
International ImportanceEspecially as 
Waterfowl Habitats. We understand 
that useful progress was made. In view 
of Turkey's international importance 
for wetlands and for both breeding 
and wintering waterfowl we hope that 
we shall shortly be able to report that 
Turkey has signed this binding con- 
vention. 
Pakistan 
Haleji Lake -fishing rights challenged 
Fishing is supposed to be banned un- 
der legislation at this lake, which is of 
international importance for water- 
fowl. The issuing of fishing rights in 
August has been challenged in the 
Sindh High Court by the Society for 
Conservation and Protection of Envi- 
ronment (SCOPE) and the Worldwide 
Fund for Nature (WWF). We await the 
outcome. 
Houbara hunting by Dubai Sheikhs 
The Houbara Chlamydotis undulata is 
an endangered species whose hunting 
is strictly banned in Sindh. A number 
of Pakistanis have been arrested, fined 
and punished for hunting and pos- 
sessing the species. Nevertheless, last 
autumn the Sindh Government issued 
an order allotting the rulers of Dubai 
an area of the district of Thatta for 
hunting Houbara and training their 
falcons untill995. This was challenged 
in the Sindh High Court by the Society 
for Conservation and Protection of 
Environment (SCOPE). The court sus- 
pended the government order. In 
March, the Sindh Government re- 
turned to the High Court because the 
continued suspension of the order 'may 
have adverse repercussions on the 
countr/s foreign policy.' Again, we 
await news of the outcome. 
Yemen 
School participates in International Gar- 
deit Bird Survey 
We have learnt that the Mohamed Ali 
28 
Othman School in Taiz participated in 
the International Garden Bird Survey 
organised by the RSPB's Young Orni- 
thologists' Club. We congratulate the 
school on their work and look forward 
to hearing of more surveys carried out 
both in Yemen and elsewhere in the 
Middle East. 
Slender-billed Curlew 
Up to two individuals have been seen 
in Oman in a recent winter but the 
largest known wintering population is 
of four birds at the Merja Zerga la- 
goons and salt marsh on Morocco's 
Atlantic coast. This site is now threat- 
ened by a road to be funded by aid 
from the Italian Government. While 
the main road from Rabat to Tangier 
will skirt the marsh, a prop>osed slip 
road from the junction for the coastal 
resort of Moulay Bousselham will cross 
the very area of salt marsh where the 
Slender-billed Curlews spend the win- 
ter. The area is also internationally im- 
portant for waterfowl, with over 1,000 
Avocets Recurvirostra avosetta and 
10,000 Black-tailed God wits Limosa 
limosa wintering. 
Letters of protest should be addressed 
to the Italian Government Minister of 
Foreign Affairs: On. Emilio Colombo, 
Ministro degli Af fari Esteri, Famesina, 
Foro Italico, Roma, Italy. 
Requests for reprints on owls 
Autiiors of articles or publications deal- 
ing with owls and wishing them to be 
listed in the second edition of a work- 
ing Bibliography of Owls of the World 
are asked to send reprints to: Richard J 
Clark, The Owl Bibliography, c/o De- 
partment of Biology, York College of 
Pennsylvania, York, PA USA 17405- 
7199. 
