PROTECTION OF FAUNA IN U.S.8.R.—DEMENTIEV 489 
the bighorn sheep (Ovis nivicola) , the ibex, the Persian gazelle (Anti- 
lope subgutturosa), and the tiger. 
The planned use of natural resources in the U.S.S.R. is essentially 
based upon the principle that all mammals, birds, fishes, etc., consti- 
tuting the fauna are a form of national wealth. All reduction of 
animal populations must be legally performed: whether it is hunting 
for sport or for commercial gain, or whether it is part of the battle 
against injurious animals in terms of agriculture, sylviculture, and 
epidemiology. Aside from this, Soviet legislation considers the fauna 
from a purely conservationist point of view. This is why, for ex- 
ample, the destruction of nests and eggs of birds, the hunting of fe- 
male hoofed mammals and their young (at the age of 1 year and 
under), and the destruction of mammal burrows and dens (wolves 
and injurious rodents excepted) are absolutely forbidden. 
The law on hunting based on the above principles was put into 
effect in Soviet Russia in 1920; since then it has been enlarged and 
amended many times. ‘These laws, as well as decrees by local authori- 
ties, control the list of species that may be hunted, the dates, and the 
methods of hunting, etc. 
We must not forget that the establishment of a state monopoly on 
fur bearers makes impossible any commerce of game products having 
illegal origin. 
The same principle concerning the limitation of hunting licenses 
was applied to the hunting of the saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica). 
At the beginning of this century this animal was almost extinct. 
Complete protection was established in 1920, and now, according to 
a census, there are on the steppes of Astrakhan, of Stalingrad, of 
Stavropol, and of Grozny some 230,000 individuals of this species. 
This antelope has also become very numerous in Kazakhstan. The 
number of desmans, completely protected between 1935 and 1939, has 
grown enough to permit a limited exploitation of this animal. 
Turning to birdlife, complete protection established by the federal 
government includes such species as the flamingo, the egrets, and 
several other groups—passerines (crows excepted), woodpeckers, 
cuckoos, ete. 
The same situation of additional control by local authorities pro- 
tects a large number of other birds—the swans in 40 regions, the Hun- 
garian or gray partridge in 28, buteo-type hawks in 23, the European 
kestrel in 22, owls (the eagle owl, the snowy owl, the scops owl, the 
short-eared owl excepted) in 21, the bustard in 19, harriers (the marsh 
harrier excepted) in 18, the black grouse in 17, the little bustard and 
the pheasant in 10, the steppe eagle in 7, the ptarmigan in 7, the larger 
falcons and the white stork in 3, the Siberian spruce grouse (Falcipen- 
nis faleipennis) in 2, the Caucasian black grouse in 1, the rhinoceros 
auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) and the Ross gull in 1, etc. 
