kirchhoffii (1 Viewer)

Entry now: Maj. Kirchhoff (fl. 1850) Hanoverian Army, naturalist, collector (syn. Tyto alba).

Should be Heinrich Kirchhoff (31 May 1789 - 14 February 1871). He was indeed in the army and rented a big property Schaferhof. He was one of the grounders of de DOU (Deutchen Ornithologen Gesselschaft), and had a private bird collection with roughly 4000 specimens, in 1877 the collection became property of the Gottinger University, and in 1977 it came to Hannover (2400 birds). There it is still resides.

And not to be confused with Heinrich Kirchhoff (1874-1934).

But here some Specimen of this gentleman. Well found and noted. Anyway OD here as Strix Kirchhoffii

I just want to ask a question. If I read The whereabouts of pre-nineteenth century bird specimens p. 50 (or in PDF 6 of 24) I read:

Institut für Zoologie der Universität Göttingen
& coll. Heinrich Kirchhoff (1789-1871, ? accidentally associated with this collection; cf. Gebhardt, 1970)

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I assume it is about this part here

Kirchhoff, Heinrich (Bd. 2, S. 71) Z. 7 v. u.: Die belanglose Notiz in Naum. 1, 1851 stammte nicht von Heinrich K., sondern von dem in Diebzig ansässigen Lehrer C. Kirchhoff.

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...and here or here as C. Kirchhoff

Auf die wiederholte Aufforderung des hiesigen Lehrers Kirchhoff begaben wir uns, am 16. August, nach jenem kleinen Erlengebüsch, wo dieser den Vogel noch Tags zuvor hatte singen hören.

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Maybe the bird is dedicated to a teacher C. Kirchhoff of Diebzig?

Kirchhoff's invalid Spanish (Barn) Owl

Martin, I see no reason to question Justin's post #1 ... and I see no reason to start a search of an obscure "teacher C. Kirchhoff of Diebzig", I think everything clearly points towards the: "Hannöversche Herr Major Kirchhoff zu Schäferhof" (bei Nienburg). See the following links/clues:

• "St. [Strix] Kirchhoffii, nobis **" A. E. BREHM, 1857, OD here (a synonym of Tyto a. alba), a k a "Kirchhofs [sic] Schleiereule" (in German), the Paper itself starts on p.433 (in German, and Latin). For the reference/foot-note (**) see attached jpg.

The same bird/name was also (once again!) dealt with as "Kirchhoffs-Schleiereule. Strix Kirchhoffii *) nobis", by C. L. Brehm (the year after), in 1858 (here), also see the foot-note: "*) Der königl. Hannöversche Herr Major Kirchhoff zu Schäferhof wird uns, dem Vater und den Söhnen, ihm aus wahrer Verchrung und Dankbarkeit diese geringe Huldigung darzubringen."'

Also see Hartert 1908 (here, in German) and 1918 (here, in English). As well as the following links/clues; here: "... meinem lieben Freunde, Herrn Hauptmann Kirchhoff zu Schäferhof bei Nienburg, (Mitglied unserer Gesellschaft ..." (bottom p.123) and/or here, ... and onwards, elsewhere.

And; note that James (and the/his/today's Key) already is updated into:

kirchhoffii
Maj. Heinrich Kirchhoff (1789-1871) Hanoverian Army, ornithologist (founding member of D.O.G. 1850), collector (Justin Jansen in litt.) (syn. Tyto alba).

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Why the doubt?

Björn

PS. This bird/name was earlier dealt with (back in 2014), in the old thread Eponyms in German journals (here, see posts #3-4).
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OK you convinced me with the footnote in Naumannia. The OD was not that clear to whom the owl was dedicated. I just thought Renthendorf (where the Brehms lived) is closer to Diebzig than to Göttingen. So there might be closer contact. But I was wrong and you showed clear evidence.

The information I acknowledge is attached to the documents hold in the Hannover collection, together with Kirchhoffs catalogue.....