Hypocoulis

["John Leonard" <>]

When watching pictures of the war in Iraq one of my first thoughts was ?Hypocoulis?.

This is a taxanomic oddity, a medium-sized bird which appears to be unrelated to any other, and at various times has been linked with the shrikes, waxwings and bulbuls.

The Tigris and Euphrates river-valleys in Iraq are its main summer range. Does anyone know what its conservation status is? Might it be endangered by the war? (My understanding is that its habitat is scrub and cultivation, not marshland, so the destruction of the marshes on the lower Tigris and Euphrates may not have affected it).

John Leonard

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John Leonard (Dr)

http://www.webone.com.au/~jleonard

PO Box 243, Woden, ACT 2606, Australia

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