A GREAT COLLECTOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15096, 12 September 1912, Page 6

A GREAT COLLECTOR.

Mr. Allan Hume, C.8., -who died recently in London, at the ripe ago of 83, was for the greater part of his.; life connected with the Indian Civil Service. A man of great versatility, he was -well known .for botanical . and ornithological work. During his long career he devoted most of his spare time and much money in collecting material for a great work, "The Birds of India." . By his own efforts, and the assistance of 40 or 50 willing helpers in all parts of India, he succeeded, after a quarter, of .a; century's ..work, in gathering together in the..museum.of his Simla house an enormous collection "of bird skins and eggs. The. manuscript, for the book was almost complete, but it was never..to appear. During the winter of 1884 the greater part of the invaluable papers, were stolen from his museum during his absence and, it is supposed, "destroyed. 110 had to give up what had been the ambition of his life. His collection,' consisting of 63,000 birdskins, hi perfect, condition, and 19,000 eggs, he generously presented, in 1885, to the British Museum of* Natural History. So important-and valuable ' was the gift that Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, head of the Ornithological Department of the Museum, was sent out to Simla to'take over the collection and bring it to' London. He also presented 200 heads of the different species of horned wild animals of the Indian Empire. It. is understood that the remainder of his collection of large fauna, now at his residence, will pass to the Museum. He founded and endowed the South : London Botanical Institute at Tulse Hill, and gave it his collection of from 30,000 to 40.000 sheets of preserved British and casual alien plants, brought together 'chiefly by his own iu all paxfca of the British Isles.