The birds of Pasvik / E. I. Khlebosolov, O. A. Makarova, O. A. Khlebosolova [et al. ; English transl. Nikita Chernetsov]. - Ryazan : Golosgubernii, 2007. - 175 с. : ил., портр.

The manuscript by Johann Scheffer o f Strassbourg, who was a professor at Uppsala written in Latin and dated 1674, contains various inform ation on Russian Lapland, lifestyle and occupations o f Saami. Inform ation related to birds is very brief and refers only to game birds. Travel notes o f Dr. med. A. Drzewetski who was a m em ber o f Russian- Norwegian border delim itation comm ission and visited the Pasvik river in 1871, inform that Willow Ptarmigan is comm on and is game o f local people. The au tho r adds that “ Black Grouse is rare, and migrating waterfowl o f the sw imm ing order and especially different races o f duck are comm on, but Saami do not eat th em ” (cited after Matsak 2005). Interesting data on avifauna o f Pasvik are reported in the travel jou rnal o f the Russian consul Dm itry Bukharov published in his article “A Jou rney to Lapland” in 1885. Mr. Bukharov travelled by boat upstream from the m outh o f the Pasvik river to Lake Inari in autumn 1883. He m entioned that at the right tributary Menikkajoki “the whole area is a kingdom o f birds; whole flocks o f various ducks. On the banks artificial nests made of birch bast are fitted on trees; here the colonists take the eggs from unsuspecting hens” . When approaching Mt. Kalkupa, the travellers saw taking off ducks, swans, and in the air “a line o f black geese” . On the flat banks, overgrown with pines and birches, “ several huge Capercaillies were proudly walking” . In his a rti­ cle, D. Bukharov writes that “ running through a flat plain, the Pasvik river makes sev­ eral boggy tussock islands, densely overgrown with shrubs and sedge. In summ er that should be a paradise for the feathered, and even now we frequently flush whole flocks o f ducks.” The article by D. Bukharov is the first published con tribu tion on the rich ­ ness o f the avifauna o f this area. Somewhat later Pasvik was visited by Dr. Andreas Bredal Wessel from Kirkenes who was there on a business trip with his wife Elisif, a journalist. They made inciden ­ tal phenological observations, photographed nature and Saam i settlem ents on the Pasvik river. In his article “Ornithological reports from Syd-Varanger” (1904) A.B. Wessel published data on the spring arrival o f birds n ear K irkenes in 1887-1904. V.V. Bianchi compared them with the recent data and showed a significant resem ­ blance o f the historic and the current data (Annals o f N atu re... 1997). A. Engelmeier mentioned in his publication “Across Russian and Scandinavian N o rth ” (1902) a great abundance o f Peregrine Falcons and Gyrfalcons. The next stage o f research o f the avifauna o f Pasvik was publication at the end o f the 19th century o f checklists o f birds o f the Kola Peninsula th a t included the species inhabiting the Pasvik valley. It was made possible due to intensive scientific research and numerous expeditions conducted during the 19th century. Quite a few renowned scientists visited Pasvik and published the results o f their studies. However, a significant proportion o f publications are reviews based on m ate­