Viktor von Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen

Viktor von Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen (28 December 1847 – 5 March 1924) was an Austrian ornithologist.

Biography Tschusi was born on 28 December 1847 in Smíchov, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (now a district of Prague, Czech Republic). He was a prolific writer, the author of over 700 publications. Tschusi specialized in the avifauna of the Palaearctic, becoming a noted expert on the subject, and exerted a great influence on the development of ornithology in Austria-Hungary. Among his works are the Ornithologisches Jahrbuch, published annually from 1890 until World War I, and bibliographies of Austria-Hungary's birds. The European goldfinch subspecies Carduelis carduelis tschusii was named after him.

Tschusi participated in the First International Congress of Ornithologists, held in April 1884 in Vienna by Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and was among the first members of the International Ornithological Committee. At the request of Prince Rudolf, Tschusi directed the ornithological observation stations in Austria-Hungary for eight years, editing the results of the work, and publishing them in the journal of the International Ornithological Committee, Ornis, and in six separate yearbooks. The studies undertaken at the ornithological observation stations, first proposed by R. Blasius and G. von Hayek, had led to the First International Congress of Ornithologists, and greatly influenced the progress of ornithology throughout the world.

Tschusi became a member of the Zoologisch-Botanische Gesellschaft of Vienna in 1865, and a member of the Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft in 1867. He was additionally a Corresponding Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union from 1884.

During World War I and the years following it, Tschusi and his wife were reduced to poverty and suffered greatly. His fortunes changed around his golden wedding anniversary in 1921, when he was granted a pension by the Austrian government and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Innsbruck. Tschusi died on 5 March 1924, at Tannenhof, where he had lived for 53 years.