Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
172 Phylum Vertebrata CLASS AVES (BIRDS) Ornithological research in the Fertő and Hanság districts This account takes up the history of ornithological research in Hungary at the time when scientifically based examination of birds can be said to begin. Although it may seem somewhat arbitrary, the date taken is 1804, when JOHANN NATTERER (1787-1843), a Vienna museum curator, and his cousins began to visit Lake Fertő and to act as guides to several famous authorities on the subject. One of the latter was COENRAAD JACOB TEMMINCK (1778-1858), a visitor to Vienna in 1818, whom NATTERER escorted to Fertő from there. TEMMINCK'S seminal work on ornithology, which appeared in 1820-40, contains numerous data from Hungary. 26 These he presumably obtained from SALAMON JÁNOS PETÉNYI, as he himself did not travel further east than Fertő. PETÉNYI had completed his studies in Vienna in 1822-4 in great poverty. In the same period, there arrived in Vienna HERMANN SCHLEGEL (1804-1884), later the leading light in European ornithology. 27 He accompanied PETÉNYI to Fertő and their close friendship later helped to make the latter known internationally. 28 PETÉNYI did great service to Hungarian ornithology later by promoting and assisting visits by several other foreign ornithologists. One was JOHANN FRIEDRICH NAUMANN (1780-185 7), among the great ornithologists of the period, who studied Hungarian bird-life in 1835, publishing his fruitful experiences, including several field trips to Fertő, in an account of this travels (NAUMANN 1837) and in his great ornithological work, which became known worldwide (NAUMANN 1822-60). These works were responsible for bringing Hungarian bird-life to world attention. However, regular ornithological research in the West Hungarian border region began only in 1852, when ANTAL JUKOVITS became parish priest of Mosonbánfalva (Apetlon) in Moson County and spent twenty years studying the birds of Fertő and the Hanság. He wrote altogether seven studies on the subject (JUKOVITS 1857a, 1857b, 1858a, 1858b, 1863, 1865 and 1875), during a period when the periodic drying up of the lake and consequent toll on the fish attracted greater flocks of birds than ever. His collection was unfortunately destroyed before the rarities he recorded could be confirmed by an experienced ornithologist, so that his data have been treated with suspicion by posterity. Observations provided the basis for two communications by JULIUS FINGER (1876 and 1877) and for the famous book Omis Vindobonensis by MARSCHALL and PELZELN (1882). Other works containing data from Fertő are JULIUS FINGER (1857b), AUGUST PELZELN (1871 and 1874), and ALFRED FOURNES (1886a and 1886b). 26 TEMMINCK, C.J. 1820-40. Manuel d'Ornithologie, ou tableau systématique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe... Paris. 27 SCHLEGEL, H. 1844. Kritische Übersicht der europaischen Vögel. Leiden. 28 STRESEMANN, E. 1951. Die Entwicklung der Ornithologie. Berlin.
