Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok IX. - Natura Somogyiensis 24. (Kaposvár, 2014)
Purger J. J.: Survey of small mamml fauna in north-western Somogy county (Hungary), based on Barn Owl Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769) pelletanalysis
Purger J. J.: Survey of small mammal fauna 301 pellets found in the Nagyberek area (XM86, XM87, XM96, XM97) (Table 3.). There is substantial amount of information about the distribution of this strictly protected glacial relict species (Gubányi et al. 2004), and owl pellet analysis can call the attention to further potential habitats (e.g. Purger 2008, 2013). Following the members of the shrew and the hamster families, mice (Muridae), too, are important in the feeding of Bam Owls in the study area. Among wood mouse species, it was the Striped Field Mouse (Apodemus agrárius) that had remnants revealed from pellets collected in all nine UTM grids. The Yellow-necked Mouse (Apodemus flavicol- lis) and the Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) are also frequently caught prey animals for the Bam Owls, and are considered to be common small mammals in the entire area (Table 3.). The only grid without these species was XM65, the two Apodemus species probably missing due to the small size (12 pellets) of the sample (Table 1.). The information about the distribution of these common species was not known precisely for long, because only specimens caught in traps could be securely identified. It is difficult to separate them on the basis of their skeletal remains (Tvrtkovic 1979, Cserkész 2005), thus in the past both were usually referred to as Apodemus sp. (e.g. Lelkes 1994; Lelkes & Horváth 2000). The Pigmy Field Mouse (Apodemus uralensis) had not been known formerly to exist in the study area. Bam Owls could have caught the three specimens in our sample near Mesztegnyő (XM85) and Kundpuszta (XM96) (Table 2b., 2c.). The presence of the Pigmy Field Mouse in the county was revealed in last decade (Lanszki & Purger 2001, Bihari et al. 2007) and more research is required to exactly define the south-western margin of its distribution (Cserkész 2005). Despite that there was one UTM grid (XM87) in which the Harvest Mouse (Micromys minutus) was not shown; probably it does occur all around the study area. Similarly, the Brown Rat (Rattus nor- vegicus), the Eastern House Mouse (Mus musculus) and the Steppe Mouse (Mus spici- legus) are probably common species here, occurring in the entire study area. However, based on their numbers in the pellets, it is only at places that they are significant constituents in the diet of the Bam Owl (Table 3.). Our results contribute to the knowledge about the mammal fauna of Somogy county, with distribution data of 27 small mammal species. An important achievement is to have recorded the new occurrence data of the Pigmy Field Mouse, and to have revealed remnants of the Root Vole from several new locations. Acknowledgements In collecting the pellets I received invaluable assistance from friends and colleagues including László Bécsy, Zoltán Horváth, József Lanszki, Tamás Nyemcsok, András Pintér, György Rozner, Zoltán Szegvári and members of the Bam Owl Foundation (BOF), which I am very grateful for. Furthermore, I want to thank Dr. Gábor Csorba for his help in identifying bat species, Dr. Zoltán Bihari for collecting relevant mamma- logical literature, Katalin Légvári and Eleonora Purger for their assistance in disintegration of the pellets. The English translation of the text was made by Balázs Trócsányi, to whom I am also extremely grateful.
