Andreas Reischek (15 September 1845 – 3 April 1902) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

taxidermist Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...

, naturalist,

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and grave robber notable for his extensive natural history collecting expeditions throughout New Zealand as well as being notorious for acts of

grave robbing Grave robbery, tomb robbing, or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a grave (burial), grave, tomb or crypt to steal commodities. It is usually perpetrated to take and profit from valuable artefact (archaeology), artefacts or personal property. A ...

there. He added materially to the understanding of the biology and distribution of the New Zealand avifauna.Westerskov, K.E. (1990). "Andreas Reischek, 1845-1902". pp.191-193 in ''A Flying Start. Commemorating Fifty Years of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand'', ed. B.J. Gill & B.D. Heather. Random Century: Auckland.

Early years

Reischek was born in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

. After attending school for a few years he worked as an apprentice to a

baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

and developed a strong interest in natural history, also becoming skilled in

taxidermy Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...

. He saw war service in

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

in 1866 during the

Third Italian War of Independence The Third Italian War of Independence ( it, Terza Guerra d'Indipendenza Italiana) was a war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire fought between June and August 1866. The conflict paralleled the Austro-Prussian War and resulted in ...

and also served as a

gamekeeper A gamekeeper (often abbreviated to keeper), or in case of those dealing with deer (deer-)stalker, is a person who manages an area of countryside (e.g. areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland) to make sure there is enough game for shoo ...

and guide before working as a taxidermist in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He married Adelheid Hawlicek on 5 May 1875.Phillipps, William John. “REISCHEK, Andreas”, from ''An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'', edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 18-Sep-200

/ref>Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: Andreas Reischek
/ref>

New Zealand

In 1877 Reischek was chosen by

Ferdinand von Hochstetter Christian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter (30 April 1829 – 18 July 1884) was a German-Austrian geologist. Career Having received his early education at the evangelical seminary at Maulbronn, Ferdinand proceeded to the University o ...

to travel to New Zealand for two years to help set up displays at the Canterbury Museum in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, then under the directorship of

Julius von Haast Sir Johann Franz Julius von Haast (1 May 1822 – 16 August 1887) was a German-born New Zealand explorer, geologist, and founder of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. Early life Johann Franz Julius Haast was born on 1 May 1822 in Bo ...

. Much of Reischek's early work in New Zealand centred on the museums in Christchurch,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

(where he was employed between 1880 and 1888) and

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

but, after his initial two-year contract was completed, he made several extended collecting expeditions over the next ten years, covering most of New Zealand and its sub-Antarctic islands, collecting biological and

ethnographical Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

specimens, including

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

s and

mummified A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furt ...

cadaver A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stud ...

s robbed from burial sites. On his expeditions he was constantly accompanied by his dog "Caesar", who saved his life on more than one occasion. Reischek collected not only for museums and private collectors, but primarily for himself. His ornithological collecting has been subsequently criticised for such reckless actions as shooting 150 specimens of the rare

stitchbird The stitchbird or hihi (''Notiomystis cincta'') is a honeyeater-like bird endemic to the North Island and adjacent offshore islands of New Zealand. Its evolutionary relationships have long puzzled ornithologists, but it is now classed as the ...

Little Barrier Island Little Barrier Island, or Hauturu in Māori language (the official Māori title is ''Te Hauturu-o-Toi''), lies off the northeastern coast of New Zealand's North Island. Located to the north of Auckland, the island is separated from the mainla ...

at a time when it had become extinct everywhere else.Wilson, Kerry-Jayne. (2004). ''Flight of the Huia''. Canterbury University Press: Christchurch. He was strong, physically fit and a good linguist, becoming fluent in both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

. In 1885 he was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

Later years

When Reischek returned to Austria in 1889 he took with him a huge personal collection of over 14,000 items. Ornithological specimens alone numbered over 3000, including many of now

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species such as the

huia The huia ( ; ; ''Heteralocha acutirostris'') is an extinct species of New Zealand wattlebird, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, although there was a credible sighting in 1924. It ...

, and is one of the most complete in existence of New Zealand's birds. The collection was eventually bought by friends of Reischek and presented to the

Imperial Natural History Museum The Imperial Natural History Museum or Imperial-Royal Natural History Court Museum of Austria-Hungary was created by (Kaiser) Emperor Franz Joseph I during an extensive reorganization of the museum collections, from 1851 to 1876, and opened to th ...

in Vienna. Two years after his return his wife gave birth to a son, Andreas. In 1892 he was asked to superintend the establishment of the Francis-Caroline Museum in Linz, the town of his birth, where he died in 1902. He is commemorated in the name of

Reischek's parakeet Reischek's parakeet (''Cyanoramphus hochstetteri'') is a small green parrot confined to Antipodes Island, one of New Zealand’s subantarctic islands, which it shares with a congener, the larger Antipodes parakeet. Taxonomy The common name comm ...

, endemic to New Zealand's

Antipodes Islands The Antipodes Islands ( Maōri: Moutere Mahue; "Abandoned island") are inhospitable and uninhabited volcanic islands in subantarctic waters to the south of – and territorially part of – New Zealand. The 21 km2 archipelago lies 860 ...

Repatriation of ancestral remains

In September 2022 the Natural History Museum in Vienna returned the remains of about 64

and

Moriori The Moriori are the native Polynesian people of the Chatham Islands (''Rēkohu'' in Moriori; ' in Māori), New Zealand. Moriori originated from Māori settlers from the New Zealand mainland around 1500 CE. This was near the time of th ...

people, collected by Reischek, to Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand.

Bibliography

Reischek's book about his travels in New Zealand, "Yesterdays in Maoriland", was compiled posthumously by his son from his diaries. It was first published in German in 1924 and was not available in an English translation until 1930. While in New Zealand Reischek published numerous articles on natural history in ''Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute'' (now the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

): * 1881 – Notes on Zoological Researches made on the Chicken Islands, East Coast of the North Island. Vol.14, pp. 274–277. * 1884 – Notes on New Zealand Ornithology. Vol.17, pp. 187–198. * 1885 – Notes on New Zealand Ornithology: Observations on ''Pogonornis cincta'' (Dubus); Stitch-Bird (Tiora). Vol.18, pp. 84–87. * 1885 – Notes on New Zealand Ornithology: Observations on ''Procellaria parkinsoni'' (Grey), Brown Petrel (Taiko). Vol.18, pp. 87–90. * 1885 – Observations on Gould's Petrel (Hutton), ''Procellaria gouldi'' (Ohi), their Habits and Habitats. Vol.18, pp. 90–91. * 1885 – Observations on Cook's Petrel (Grey), ''Procellaria cooki'' (Ti Ti), their Habits and Habitats. Vol.18, pp. 92–93. * 1885 – Observations on ''Puffinus gavius'' (Forst.), Rain-bird, (Hakoakoa), their Habits and Habitats. Vol.18, 93–94. * 1885 – Observations on ''Puffinus assimilis'' (Gould), Totorore, their Habits and Habitats. Vol.18, pp. 95–96. * 1885 – Observations on the Habits of New Zealand Birds, their Usefulness or Destructiveness to the Country. Vol.18, pp. 96–104. * 1885 – Notes on the Habits of some New Zealand Birds. Vol.18, pp. 105–107. * 1885 – Observations on ''Sphenodon punctatum'', Fringe-back Lizard (Tuatara). Vol.18, pp. 108–110. * 1885 – Notes on the Habits of the Polecat, Ferret, Mongoose, Stoat, and Weasel. Vol.18, pp. 110–112. * 1886 – Description of the Little Barrier or Hauturu Island, the Birds which inhabit it, and the Locality as a Protection to them. Vol.19, pp. 181–184. * 1886 – Notes on Ornithology. Vol.19, pp. 184–188. * 1886 – Ornithological Notes. Vol.19, pp. 188–193. * 1887 – Notes on Rats. Vol.20, pp. 125–126. * 1887 – Recent Explorations North of Chalky Sound, West Coast of Otago. Vol.20, p. 441. * 1888 – Notes on the Islands to the South of New Zealand. Vol.21, pp. 378–389.Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 1888 (electronic resource)
at rsnz.natlib.govt.nz

Early years

New Zealand

Later years

Repatriation of ancestral remains

Bibliography

References

Further reading