Boros István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 4. (Budapest 1952)
Horváth, L.: The ornis of the Mecsek Mountains based on oecologic and oologic researches
The Ornis of the Mecsek Mountains Based on Oecologic and Oologic Researches By L. Horváth, Budapest The precise circumscription of the Mecsek Mountains (SW Hungary) is very important from the point of view of discussing its omis. As a matter of fact, the Mecsek itself is surrounded by extensive woody hills from the West, North and East. The ornis of this territory is only partially identical with that of the Mecsek, and even if there is no great difference in the numbers of the different species, the difference in the frequency of the species is rather big. There are very few data in the ornithological literature which relate to the orographic concept of the mountains called Mecsek ; and under its ornis only those birds can be understood that occur in the territory of these Mountains. If we deviate so much as a kilometer from this concept, we may as well take as characteristical birds of the Mecsek the ornis of the meadows, of the acacia-bushes in the plains, indeed of the fisheries also; and that in turn means almost the whole Hungarian,avifauna, which should really not represent the ornis of the Mecsek at all. I have observed bird-life in the whole Mecsek during six years, from 1942 till 1948. During the following four years I have spent longer and shorter periods (from three days to four weeks) in always other parts of the Mountains. Accordingly, I have drawn up the recent picture of the Mecsek ornis based on the detailed investigations of ten years. All data are the results of my personal observations. I could not take into consideration the notes of the foresters and other men who habitually walk the woods, because of their lack in absolute certainty and because I have investigated every habitat in all seasons and in every year. I could not further use the paper of Agárdi (The Ornis of the Eastern Mecsek, Aquila, 46/49, 1938—42, p. 269—284.), as a large part of the occurrences of 131 bird species enumerated by him do not concur with the orographic Mecsek, nor even with the hilly region between Püspöknádasd and the Danube qualified as part of the Mecsek by the author. In his paper there are included also such birds as were found nesting, or observed around Püspökszenterzsébet, Szellő, Kátoly, and other villages, ten or twenty kilometres from the Mecsek itself. From his paper only 26 of the 131 species can be ascertained to have indubitably occurred in the Mecsek, because in the case of most species the designation of the locality of observation is extraordinary vague. (Let only one example be cited here: »109. Vanellus vanellus L. To be seen here and there in small numfiers.« The author states further that it is a permanent nesting bird in Pécsvárad. It is evident therefore, that his data bear on the marshy meadows in front of the village). The above lines do not wish to be a criticism of A g á r d i ' s paper but my reasons for not using his data. This paper, as I have already outlined above, contains exclusively my own observations. I had to do some exceptions, however, in three cases to give a possibly complete picture of the bird-species hitherto observed in the Mecsek.
