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

Phylum Vertebrata 203 Figure 14.9. LAJOS MOLNÁR (1853-1942), recorder of Molnaszecsőd and amateur ornithologist, became an expert on the bird life of the Rába valley. His ornithological collections also contained tropical material of inestimable value 1934d, 1934e, 1936b, 1936c, 1937a, 1937b, 1938, 1939, 1940b, 1942a, 1942b, 1943a, 1943b, 1950, 1954, 1955a, 1955b, 1955c, 1955d, 1955e, 1955f, 1955g, 1955h, 1955i, 1955j, 1955k, 1957, 1959a, 1959b, 1959c, 1959d, 1959f, 1959g, 1962a, 1962b, 1962c, 1963a, 1963b, 1964a, 1964b, 1964c, 1965b, 1966a, 1966b, 1966c, 1967a, 1967b, 1967c, 1967d, 1967e, 1968a, 1968b, 1968c, 1970a, 1970b, 1971, 1974a, 1974b, 1975, 1976, 1979a, 1979b, 1982 and 1988. He also wrote an account of the history and tasks of bird protection in Vas County (CSABA 1962d). LAJOS MOLNÁR (1853-1942), one of the most knowledgeable experts on the bird-life of Vas County, was born in Körmend (Figure 14.9). He was appointed recorder in 1880 at Molnaszecsőd, where he worked right up until his death in 1942.

84 His collection contained 340 native prepared bird specimens and another 300 from abroad, many of them obtained through exchanges, so that his was the richest collection of exotic bird specimens in Hungary outside the Hungarian Natural History Museum (CSABA and PÁTKAI 1964; BANKOVICS 1997). He also left to posterity a substantial egg collection, but it was combined 84 CSABA, J. 1938. Molnár Lajos. Vasi Szemle 5:350-53. The fullest account of his life and the writings about him is NAGY, Z. 1997. Múltidéző kísérlet egy hírneves madárbúvár portréjának megrajzolására (Nostalgic attempt to depict a famous birdwatcher). In NAGY, Z. ed. Molnár Lajos madárgyűjteménye (LM's Bird Collection), 5-23. Körmend: Olcsai-Kiss Zoltán Általános Iskola.