Abstract
MR. ALLAN OCTAVIAN HUME, whose death took place at his residence in Upper Norwood on July 31, at the age of eighty-three, ranks as one of the chief benefactors to the natural history departments of the British Museum. During the latter portion of his career (1849 to 1882) as a Bengal civilian, the deceased gentleman devoted his leisure and much of his fortune to collecting skins and eggs of Indian birds and heads of Indian big game. The result was the bringing together of a collection such as had never been made before, including, as it did, not only specimens obtained by himself and his assistant, Mr. W. R. Davison, but many purchased from other collections. Except for a selection of specimens—chiefly big game—retained for his own lifetime, but ultimately to come, we believe, to the nation, this collection was presented to the British Museum between 1885 and 1891. Previous to this the Museum collection of Indian birds was poor, whereas now it is surpassingly rich.
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L., R. The Late Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B. . Nature 89, 584 (1912). https://doi.org/10.1038/089584b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/089584b0