Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)

214 Phylum Vertebrata and 1917; CHERNÉL 1895, 1896a, 1916c, 1916d and 1916e; VEZÉNYI 1902, 1903 and 1905; PUNGUR 1904; BIKESSY 1906a; GRESCHNIK 1910a; LAMBRECHT 1911, 1912 and 1913; WARGA 1922a, 1924, 1926a, 1926b and 1928b; KIRÁLY 193 8b; PÁTKAI 1960b; SCHMIDT 1960; MOGYORÓSI et al. 1991; PELLINGER 1991a; ANON. 1992b; HADARICS et al. 1992b; TÓTH and VARGA 1993; ANTLI and NÉMETH 1994; MOGYORÓSI 1994a). A task on a similar scale has been the actual marking (ringing) of birds (BREUER 1930a; KEVE 1954a and 1960a; WARGA 1955; PÁTKAI 1955a, 1960a, 1961c and 1967; SCHMIDT 1979a, 1980a and 1983a; HARASZTHY and SCHMIDT 1984; VARGA 1996; SIMON 2002) and combining data from foreign ringed birds into reports (KEVE 1955b, 1957b, 1960a, 1962 and 1966; SCHMIDT 1978, 1979b, 1980b, 1981, 1982 and 1983b; HARASZTHY and SCHMIDT 1986). Many birds marked in foreign ringing programmes have come to light in the West Hungarian border region. For instance, a grey heron (Ardea cinerea) caught in Sopron County had been ringed in East Prussia (KIRÁLY 1931a) and a Mediterranean gull (Larus melanocephalus) marked in the Netherlands turned up at Mekszikópuszta (HOOGENDOORN et al. 1993). Similarly, birds ringed in the West Hungarian border region have been caught in several European countries (BREUER 1931 and 19 3 2 ; SIMON and VARGA 19 9 8 ; VARGA and SIMON 1997). One of the biggest challenges for ornithologists that arose in the 1950s was synchronized observation of bird migrations. The greatest attention was paid to the migration of aquatic birds, and here countless records can be found from the West Hungarian border region, especially Fertő (SCHMIDT 1959 and 1961; KEVE and SCHMIDT 1960 and 1964; KEVE et al. 1959). ISTVÁN ANTLI and CSABA NÉMETH (1995) looked into migration trends among robin (Erithacus rubecula) populations in the vicinity of Sopron, showing that flights were induced by the shortening of daylight, but instigated by cold weather fronts. After two nights of flight, the birds require ten days of feeding before they can fly on. This strategy of responding to the rhythms of the weather brings them to winter quarters along the coasts of the Mediterranean. The Tömörd area is an important resting place for goldcrests (Regulus regulus) on their autumn migration, so that quite high numbers are caught and ringed: 124 in 1998, 112 in 1999, 521 in 2000, 451 in 2001 and 42 in 2002. It appears that males and females migrate together, sometimes very rapidly. Their flights depend less on weather factors than those of other songbird species (GÓCZÁN 2002; GÓCZÁN and GYURÁCZ 2002). The occurrence of the whiskered tern (Chlidonias hybridus) along the River Lajta was published by RUDOLF LUGITSCH (1951a and 1955). ATTILA PELLINGER (1995b and 1995c) has studied migration patterns of marsh terns (Chlidonias spp.) on Fertő. JÓZSEF CSABA recorded the occurrence of the whitewinged black tern (C. leucopterus) at Felsőmarác (ANON. 1980a). One priority research field in Hungarian ornithology for a long time was the diet of birds. The conclusions reached by ERNŐ CSÍKI as part of his entomological research have been described in the Coleoptera section of