Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
Phylum Vertebrata 213 and information on the West Hungarian border region (LOVASSY 1898; MADARÁSZ 1899-1903; M.O.K. 1894 and 1895b; LÁPOSi 1914; VASVÁRI 1955; FÁBA 1964; TRASER 1985; HADARICS and PELLINGER 1993c; PELLINGER 1993C). Several papers describe unusual behaviour by the white stork (Ciconia ciconia —CHERNÉL 1919c; WALZEL 1926; VICZIÁN 1934; SMUK 1957a). Many communications deal with the consequences of motorization and other types of carnage among birds (MOGYORÓSI 1986a and 1989a; KÁRPÁTI 1987b; KÁRPÁTI and MOGYORÓSI 1993; NÉMETH 2002b), or about bird rescue (MOGYORÓSI 1986b). Albinos and birds with other colour irregularities occur in the West Hungarian border region and are described (BiKESSY 1904 and 1906b; BITTERA 1912b; MIKOLÁS 1928a; SOLYMOSY 1928c; GRESCHNIK 1931a; CSABA 1955C; PÁTKAI 1947b; ANON. 1979a and 1979c; RÉKASI 1984, VARGA 1985c and 1986b; MOGYORÓSI 1989c; AMBRUS et al. 1990; PELLINGER 1991C; HADARICS et al 1990 and 1991b; HADARICS and PELLINGER 1993d). In some cases, colour irregularities in hybrid individuals have been observed (PELLINGER and MOGYORÓSI 1995). Hybrids have been the subject of several publications (CSABA 1963a and 1967d; FÜLÖP 1993a). Here a story interesting and valuable from the viewpoint of the history of science has been contributed by ATTILA T. SZABÓ: 'According to oral tradition in Kolozsvár [Cluj], OTTÓ HERMAN came before the curator of the Transylvanian Museum Association, 96 SÁMUEL BRASSAI, legendary for his criticisms and his capacity for work, not only with a reference from KÁLMÁN CHERNÉL, but with some masterpieces: a stuffed ermine and an albino sparrow. BRASSAI hired young HERMAN on the strength of the recommendation, the works presented to him and a conversation, sharing with him — according to oral tradition —his own modest pay as museum curator. It has also to be said that about 1959, those of us preparing for our zoology exams were shown by our teachers the natural history collections of the Transylvanian Museum Association in their first home in the Zoology Museum (in the Mikó Gardens of Kolozsvár), which had survived the war unscathed. I can't remember if it was JÁNOS KORODI GÁL and ISTVÁN GYURKÓ or ZSIGMOND SZABÓ, but they pointed out the albino sparrow OTTÓ HERMAN had brought from Vas County... and as far as I remember, the ermine. To discover the truth behind the tradition would probably mean examining the inventory books of the museum' (ATTILA T. SZABÓ personal communication). Also worth mentioning are some works on bird nomenclature that have to do with the region (BODNÁR 1914; DORNING 1916). Processing the data on bird-migration observations arriving at the Hungarian Ornithological Centre, later the Ornithological Institute, and now at the Ringing Centre of the Hungarian Ornithological Society has been a happy task for generations of ornithologists. These published reports contain many data from the West Hungarian border region (FIRBÁS 1890b; GAAL 1896, 1897, 1898, 1900 and 1902; M.O.K. 1895a Erdélyi Múzeum Egyesület.
