Bird Notes and News 



19 



Wild-life Protection in Russia. 



In continuation of his interesting letter, 

 published in the Spring Number of Bird 

 Notes and Neivs, M. Boris Zakharoff writes 

 from Kharkow to say that in addition to 

 the Nature-Eeserves he then mentioned, 

 the Imperial University of Kharkow possesses 

 a reserve (forest-land) which is situated in 

 one of the most picturesque locaHties in 

 the south of Russia. 



" Near the town of Vladivostok on the 

 Pacific Coast, there is a large private reserve 

 for a species of deer {Cervus Dyholskii), 

 where there are 300 head of those animals, 

 which are very numerous in the region but 

 are much destroyed because their antlers are 

 used in Chinese medicine. 



" The reserves are organised in Siberia for 

 the Zibelines, but as hunting is therefore 

 prohibited other species of fauna find a 

 refuge there. 



" Near the town of Kasagne there is a 

 Mahometan Cemetery ; in that part of 

 Russia the population is a mixture of 

 Russians and of Tartars, the latter being 

 Mahometans. No one visits that place 

 because of the religious beliefs of the Tartars ; 



as a result a colony of Herons, almost 

 unique in that district, exists there. The 

 other heronries have been almost entirely 

 destroyed by hunters." 



M. Zakharoff adds that he sends the 

 Society three brochures on the protection 

 of Nature, issued by the Society of the 

 Friends of Nature at Kharkow ; but un- 

 fortunately they have not reached England. 

 One of these, by ]M. George Brisgualine, deals 

 with " The Winter Feeding of Useful Birds : " 



" In the spring M. Brisgualine and I 

 decided to place a quantity of nesting-boxes 

 in the Jardin des Plantes of Kharkow and 

 in some other gardens in the town. 



" The question of Bird-Protection interests 

 me much, but, to my regret there is in the 

 Russian literature no good book on the 

 subject, and until the war all the sciences 

 drew on German books. In general the 

 protection of Nature is a new thing in 

 Russia. For some years the Society of 

 the Friends of Nature has organized a 

 Nature Exhibition, which has been a great 

 success and has been repeated with equal 

 success at Kieff." 



In an English Bird Reserve. 



It will not be difficult for readers to identify 

 the nature-reserve indicated in the folloAving 

 description, and many will perhaps recognize 

 also the initials of the writer who kindly 

 sends it : — 



" We hear the Wryneck, and by a cottage- 

 gate admire a family party of Goldfinches. 

 A Yellow Wagtail calls overhead as we walk 

 along the peaty drove which runs by the 

 main lode, with its charming under-water 

 garden. The pools in the fen are crowded 

 with white water-lilies, and the marsh red- 

 rattle shows up here and there as the wind 

 plays on the clumps of bulrush, reed and 

 sedge, A Snipe is standing on the stile, 

 and near by are the broken eggs that have 

 been hatched. A pair of Redshanks greet 

 us with a subdued rendering of their nest- 

 time charm. We have seen another pair 

 also, as well as a Curlew. There is a Red- 

 backed Shrike on sentry-go above the blooms 

 of the water-elder, and the Whinchats 



draw our attention from listening to the 

 reeling of at least four Grasshopper Warblers 

 and the song of a Redpoll. Reed Buntings 

 and Sedge Warblers are plentiful, and there 

 are four pairs of Reed-W^arblers. The 

 Lesser White' j oat is jingling ag in, and 

 we see the Corn Bunting and watch the 

 Little Owl go into its retreat in an ivy-clad 

 ash. But the chief care of the W^atcher 

 are the " large Hawks " which are nesting. 

 There is no need to name them more pre- 

 cisely. The Watcher needs a pair of good 

 field-glasses to spot the persistent and 

 deadly clutch - hunters who come — on 

 Sundays especially — to try and rob him of 

 his charge. ... It has been a delightful 

 ramble to end our rest and change from 

 National Service. In our comfortable lodg- 

 ings we fall asleep to the noises of young 

 Tawny Owls, mth kindly feeling towards 

 the unspoiled, religious-minded people who 

 live in Hereward's country — W. A. S." 



