Bonn. Apart from ornithology he also took an interest in ethnology. In 1876 he accompanied the zoologist Alfred Brehm on an expedition to Turkestan and northwest China.

Finsch resigned as curator of the museum in 1878 in order that he could resume his travels, sponsored by the Humboldt Foundation. Between spring 1879 and 1885 he made several visits to the Polynesian Islands, New Zealand,