April 1997 
reduced (5.8 x 5 4 cm) that detail has become a 
meaningless scribbly blob that is an insull lo the reader 
Elsew here, some of the species distribution maps haw 
been so reduced that the accompanying Latin names arc 
unreadable to many without a magnifying glass leg. 
Mhtcapra gnmmia cm p 358) Thisabsurd reduction is 
also apparent in some of die diagrams (eg that displaying 
bovid ecological niches on p. 347). Such thoroughly bad 
bookmanship is inexcusable — the more so because at 
£30 the volume is expensive for a paperback. 
These severe criticisms notwithstanding. The 
Ktngdon Field Guide lo African Mammals is attractively 
laid out. As the only field-guide to African mammals 
dial includes all the mammalian orders, it is outstanding 
Yet what really lilts this book far beyond the excellent 
competition (eg The larger A lammals of A frica by Chris 
& Tilde Stuart) is Kingdon's wealth or biological 
information combined with Iris grasp of both evolution 
and ecology. To gel this assembled in a single field- 
guide makes the book a very good buy indeed The good 
points so outweigh the bad that I recommend it 
unreservedly as the best guide to Africa's mammals 
currently oil the market 
I.S.C Parker. Langata. Kenya 
SOCIETY NEWS 
RESULTS OFTHE EANHS BULLETIN 
QUESTIONNAIRE 
First let me again tliank all of the people who have 
returned their questionnaires The information you 
supplied was very helpful when trying to decide how to 
proceed with the new style of Bulletin Nearly five 
percent of the questionnaires were returned which is 
not bad for this kind of survey 
The following graph (figure I > wasa great pleasure for 
the editors to sec Apparently we have been doing 
something right as there seems lo be genual satisfaction 
with the content Other comments such as "Why are 
you asking, you are doing fine 1 '" seemed to confirm this 
general consensus The responses themselves arc very 
interesting As ihe graph shows, most respondents like 
the present balance of articles Whether those who 
responded are truly representative of the readership as 
a whole is. of course, open lo question. We have no way 
of knowing. 
Uponlookmgat the preferred articles, it was interesting 
to note that the most popular were conservation 
orientated such as those on Kaknmega and Ihe Sliimba 
Kipcpco Project This general interest by the members 
was also revealed in the results of the questionnaire on 
the Society itself, where advocacy and conscnauon 
were strongly featured in responses to various questions 
As the Society takes a greater role in conservation and 
advocacy. I hope to sec more of this kind of article 
Hopefully, many of die 'Comment' articles will deal with 
conservation advocacy as well 
Figure 1 Number of respondents favouring each option 
on the present content of the EANHS Bulletin 
Always popular, and certainly revealed so from the 
results of Ihe questionnaire, arc articles recounUng 
specific happenings and articles on individual species 
of animals: all such articles were very favourably 
responded to. 
No article was universally disliked, but there was a 
definite coolness towards those articles reporting on 
conferences, workshops and meetings. This said, it 
appeared in most cases Hint it was the frequency of 
meetings and workshops that never lead to anything ai 
which the disapproval was aimed. While reporting the 
results of these is sometimes important, we will try not 
lo ov erburden the readers with such items. 
Of the returns, 72% indicated that the respondent 
wtxdd like to contribute material to the Bulletin F.\cryonc 
who said they would contribute is welcome and 
encouraged lo do so as soon as they can We are in real 
need of material— particularly popular articles and 
drawings, but all kinds of material are needed The Tact is 
that racist of the time what goes into the Bulletin is 
entirely dependent upon what is on hand at the time of 
preparation So tf we don't have enough articles of one 
kind, we lend 10 put in what we do have As most of 
those indicating that they would like to contribute didn'i 
give their names. I can only say thank you and please 
send what you hove. It is most welcome 
Comments were many and varied Some of the more 
interesting were the suggestions to include resumes of 
die lectures (would whoever suggested this be interested 
in doing thejob7|, more readers' letters with replies if 
possible (again, depends upon the readers to write), 
articles about whal each of our projects and sub- 
committees are doing, and one particularly interesting 
suggestion that we have a 'scandal section' by which I 
believe the respondent meant a column on controversial 
issues which could be mentioned without necessarily 
mentioning the authors' names Particularly pointed out 
in this regard was tile Bambun Cement Factory 's 
proposed clinker plant just outside Nairobi National Park 
Whal is a supposedly 'green' organisation doing 
building such a pollution gcncrating-plant just outside 
a national park (or anywhere for that matter)'’ 
