Count Konstanty Grzegorz Branicki (9 May 1824 – 14 July 1884) was a Polish landowner, collector and naturalist who established a private museum of natural history in Warsaw. The bird species ''

Heliodoxa branickii The rufous-webbed brilliant (''Heliodoxa branickii'') is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is endemic to Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World an ...

'' and ''

Odontorchilus branickii The grey-mantled wren (''Odontorchilus branickii'') is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The grey-mantled wren shares its genus with one other species ...

'' described from his collections were named after him. Branicki was born in

Biała Cerkiew Bila Tserkva ( uk, Бі́ла Це́рква ; ) is a city in the center of Ukraine, the largest city in Kyiv Oblast (after Kyiv, which is the administrative center, but not part of the oblast), and part of the Right Bank. It serves as the admi ...

, the son of Władysław Michał Branicki (1783–1843) and Róża. He was born at time when Tsarist Russian intelligence watched over his family and considered them as potential enemies. He then took an interest in travel and natural history along with his brother

Aleksander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

. They travelled to Egypt and Nubia in 1863. Another trip was made in 1866 to Algeria with

Władysław Taczanowski Władysław Taczanowski (; 17 March 1819, in Jabłonna, Lublin Voivodeship – 17 January 1890, in Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist and collector of natural history who explored the Russian Far East and northern Africa. He specialized mainly in orn ...

and

Antoni Stanisław Waga Antoni Stanisław Florian Waga (8 May 1799 – 23 November 1890) was a Polish zoologist, traveller, writer, literary critic and Piarist. He was also a collector of rare books on natural history. Along with Taczanowski and under the patronage of Kon ...

. The two established a private zoological museum in 1887, financing expeditions into Ussri 1883-1885, to Korea and Japan (1885-1887), and Peru (1881-1902). Later they paid for collectors including

Benedykt Dybowski Benedykt Tadeusz Dybowski (12 May 183331 January 1930) was a Polish naturalist and physician. Life Benedykt Dybowski was born in Adamaryni, within the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire to Polish nobility. He was the brother of naturalis ...

Konstanty Jelski Konstanty Roman Jelski ( be, Канстанцін Ельскі, February 17, 1837–November 26, 1896) was an acclaimed Polish ornithologist and zoologist who explored French Guiana. Jeski was born in Liady village, now in the Smalyavichy Raion ...

Jan Sztolcman Jan Stanisław Sztolcman (sometimes referred to as Jean Stanislaus Stolzmann) (19 November 1854, Warsaw – 28 April 1928, Warsaw) was a Polish ornithologist. Biography Beginning in 1872, Sztolcman studied zoology at the Imperial University ...

, and others. He took an interest in archaeology and undertook excavations around Mironowski; many of the findings are now in the Krakow archaeological museum. The Branicki museum was later managed by his son,

Ksawery Branicki (1864–1926) Count Ksawery Władysław Branicki or Xavier Branicki (19 April 1864 – 18 June 1926) was a Polish landowner, nobleman, and naturalist. Branicki was the son of Count Konstantin Branicki (1824–1884) and Countess Jadwiga Potocka (1827–1916) wh ...

, in Warsaw. It became part of the state museum in 1919 and in 1928 became part of the State Zoological Museum. Branicki was married to Jadwiga Potocka and they had a daughter Róża Maria Branicka and a son

Ksawery Ksawery is a Polish given name version of name Xavier, other variation is Xawery, may refer to: People * Ksawery Błasiak (1900–1966), lieutenant of the Polish Army * Ksawery Jasieński (born 1931), Polish radio speaker, voice actor * Ksawery ...

(also given as Xavier) Branicki (1864–1926) who was also a naturalist and collector.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branicki, Konstanty 1824 births 1884 deaths Polish naturalists Natural history collectors