On Encounters with Siberian Crane in the Turkistan Territory at the Beginning of the XX Century(Central Flyway) By Yevgenia Lanovenko |
On Encounters with Siberian Crane in the Turkistan Territory at the Beginning of the XX Century (Central Flyway) (from the manuscript by N.A. Zarudny "Birds of Turkestan" 1906-1918, Tashkent)
By Yevgenia Lanovenko
N.A. Zarudny is a prominent ornithologist who lived at the end of IX - the beginning of XX century. He worked in former Turkestan and southeasternPersia where he carried out his scientific investigations. The results of his research were published in his monographs “Birds of Kyzylkum Desert” (1914), “Birds of the Aral Sea” (1915) and more than 40 articles. He did not manage to publish his generalizing work “Birds of Turkestan”. Currently Zarudny’s manuscript “Birds of Turkestan” is stored in St.-Petersburg, in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
N.A.Zarudny was a very keen researcher. His enthusiasm infected those who were around him. He had his own correspondent network, which included his fellow officers, who served in Turkmenistan and went in for hunting. They regularly informed him about their meetings with birds and sent him their trophies. Here we present some passages from his manuscript, devoted to encounters with the white crane during the period of 1908-1916.
1908ã |
Russov saw near Chinaz. |
A hunter killed a single Siberian Crane on 24 September near Arys railway station. The bird stayed alone |
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According to G.N.Kustov’s information a bird was killed by sarts at Nizhny Angren at the end of September |
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1909 ã. |
A Siberian Crane was killed near Kazalinskon 15 April |
1911 ã. |
In Perovsk I was told that one bird was killed by local hunters in spring, at the beginning of April. |
1912 ã. |
On 19 October Bilkevich (according to his letter) killed one bird from a pair in Dushak. It happened in the evening, when it was already dark, near a small lake. |
1916 ã. |
A group of three birds were noticed at the shore of Shelavkul on 3 March |
The dates are presented as they were given by the author, so they correspond to the old calendar. To transform them to the new calendar it is necessary to add 13 days as Gregorian calendar was adopted inRussia and other countries, which belonged to the former Russian Empire on the 18 of February 1918.
Modern variants of the geographical names, which were mentioned in the text above:
Chinaz – Stary Chinaz, a settlement 60 km southeast of Tashkent
Nizhny Angren – the low flow of the Angren River, 40 km south of Tashkent;
Kazalinsk – a town in Kyzyl-Orda region, on the Syrdarya River in Kazakhstan, northeast of the Aral Sea;
Perovsk – now Kyzyl-Orda, Kazakhstan;
Dushak – a mountain about 70 km west of Ashgabad (Kopetdag, Turkmenistan);
Shelavkul – a lake, which probably was not far from Tashkent.
For more information:
Yevgenia Lanovenko
Institute of Zoology of Uzbekistan
© 2004 by SCFC