Paul Robert Kollibay (4 July 1863 – 5 November 1919) was a German lawyer and

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 ...

. He specialised in the birds of Upper Silesia and his collection of bird skins is held at the museum of the

University of Wroclaw A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. Born in

Gorzów Śląski Gorzów Śląski (german: Landsberg in Oberschlesien) is a town in Olesno County, Opole Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,452 inhabitants (2019). Notable people * Nathanael Pringsheim (1823–1894), Jewish German botanist *Herbert Weichmann Herbert ...

, then called Landsberg, Upper Silesia, Kollibay was the son of a district judge. He went to the local elementary school and then the Gymnasium in Neustadt where he met

Friedrich Kutter Friedrich Kutter (1 October 1834 – 7 March 1891) was a German physician, and ornithologist who was among the early adopters of evolutionary thinking in oology, the study of birds' eggs. He served as a president of the German Ornithological Socie ...

(1834–1891) who influenced his interests in birds. He went to Breslau to study law and completed school in 1885. Kollibay became a notary in 1897, a Judicial Councillor in 1910, and a board member of the Bar association in 1917. His work on birds began in 1879, with studies of the species in the

Prussian Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...

which was published in 1906 with supplements in 1909 and later updated by Anton Reichenow. He became a specialist on the swifts of the region and was honoured in a subspecies ''Apus apus kollibayi'' described by Victor von Tschusi which is now considered synonymous to the nominate form. He was a member of the German Ornithological Society and the

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds ("ornithology") and around the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry ...

. A few subspecies ''Carduelis carduelis paropanisi'', ''Galerida cristata subtaurica'', ''Pisorhina leucotis granti'' were described by Kollibay. Kollibay's collection of 3200 bird skins was purchased by the zoological museum of Breslau University but many specimens were destroyed during the Second World War.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kollibay People from Olesno County German ornithologists 1863 births 1919 deaths 20th-century German lawyers