The ornithologist and forester Vladimir Khlebnikov dedicated his life to a scrupulous study of the fauna of the Astrakhan region, primarily birds.
For ten years, from 1881 to 1891, he was forming his unique collection on trips around the region. The lands he visited on both banks of the Volga were extensive: the vicinity of Lake Baskunchak, the Bolshoye Bogdo Mountains, a number of villages (Dosang, Basy, Three Potoki, Yenotayevka, Nachalovo, Gondurino).
In 1890, he represented the Petrovsky Research Society at the Kazan Scientific and Industrial Exhibition. A Large Silver Medal was awarded to his taxidermy collection — there were about 300 items included in it at that time — with the “List of Birds of the Astrakhan Region” attached to it (it was republished in 1930).
Vladimir Khlebnikov was the creator, one of the founders and a researcher of the first Soviet nature reserve — the Astrakhan Reserve; from 1830 he served as its first director. The compilation of collections remained the main task of the scientist. The Astrakhan Museum of Local Lore has preserved about 400 objects (stuffed animals and skins) with labels made by Khlebnikov. Experts note the high quality of both taxidermy methods used and scientific descriptions of the exhibits. Detailed information on the labels about the origin of the artifact and the place and time it was collected is valuable both for natural sciences and history, as it informs about the establishment of museum funds.
Vladimir Khlebnikov’s scientific works, which had a great influence on the formation of the Astrakhan school of ornithology, have not lost their relevance even today.
Yury Sergeyevich Chuykov, an employee of the Department of Ecology of Astrakhan State University, noted with regret that the fundamental work “Birds of the Astrakhan Region” was lost. “What it exactly contained, ” the researcher writes, “can now be determined only from fragments of articles and correspondence.”
Pyotr Vasilyevich Miturich, Khlebnikov’s son-in-law, who carefully kept their family heirlooms, mentioned in his will certain “manuscripts of V.A. Khlebnikov and his drawings.” It is also known that Miturich’s son, May Miturich-Khlebnikov, partially transferred the archive of the scientist “to Kalmykia… and partially to RGALI [Russian State Archive of Literature and Art] and the Velimir Khlebnikov House Museum in Astrakhan.” Yury Chuykov could not establish whether there was a manuscript of “Birds”.
