Periodic Fluctuations in British Game Populations

THIS work forms part of a programme of research on British game populations carried on by the Oxford University Bureau of Animal Population with the aid of a grant from Imperial Chemical Industries. Work of this kind is necessarily dependent a great deal on the degree of co-operation obtained from landowners, shooting men and gamekeepers on private estates throughout the country. I wish to thank all those who have readily placed their game records at my disposal and given me help and facilities for research in many ways. Many landowners do not like to have their names or the names of their estates published, so throughout this paper I have referred to estates only by the name of the county with a reference letter where necessary. A number of other records have been obtained, but only a selection of those which cover the longest series of years are published here. The complete records are deposited at the Bureau of Animal Population. The aim of this paper is simply to record some facts regarding the periodic fluctuations of certain species of mammals and birds for which statistical data are available in Great Britain. All the records given are the numbers of animals killed annually on game preserves in different parts of the country, and it is as well to say at the outset that most of these figures cannot be regarded as accurate annual indices of the populations concerned. The whole purpose of game management is directed towards the preservation and main-