Wildfowl research in Russia - Biological foundations for the regulation of wildfowling in the central districts of the European part of the U.S.S.R

Abstract

The material for the present work was collected during 1953 and 1954 on the territory of the Oka State Sanctuary and in the adjacent shooting areas. The following were covered by our observations: the flood-lands of the River Oka within the limits of the Uzhevski and Yerakhturski regions of the Ryazan district, the flood-lands of the River Pra on its lower course (approximately 40 kilometres from its mouth), and a series of lakes outside the flooded areas and situated in the Oka Sanctuary (Yerus, Ukhanskoie, Tatarskoie, Kalnoie, Svatoie-Poluninskoie, etc.). As a result of the work which was performed, we had at our disposal records of encounters with more than 32,000 waterfowl, information as to the species of 356 birds obtained by hunters and the results of the laboratory examination of 210 ducks. Besides this, over a period of years, over 700 ducks had been caught alive in the Sanctuary and ringed, and information about some of these was also utilised in our work. In addition, all the material relating to duck ringing concentrated in the Ringing Bureau of the Chief Administration of Sanctuaries and Hunting Economy of the Ministry of Agriculture of the U.S.S.R. was examined and made use of where possible.