Notes and News
¾ol.1927 J Notesand News. 473 NOTES AND NEWS ALLANOCTAVIAN HUME, an Honorary Fellow of the AmericanOrnith- ologists'Union electedat the first meetingin 1883,died at his home,The Chalet, Upper Norwood,England, July 31, 1912, at the age of 83. No notice of his work having beenpublished in 'The Auk' at the time of his death, it is desirablethat somerecord of it shouldappear in this journal. Mr. Hume was born in England June 6, 1829, and was the youngestson of JosephHume, a former well-knownMember of Parliament. At the age of 20 he graduatedfrom the East India Collegeat Halleybury and enteringthe Indian Civil Servicewas detailedto the NorthwestProvinces. When the Indian Mutiny broke out he was acting as Collectorat Etawah betweenAgra and Cawnpore,and on accountof meritoriousservice on this occasionreceived the award of C. B. in 1862. In followingyears he filled varioushigh positionsin the Home, Revenueand AgriculturalDepartments of the Indian Serviceat Simla and as Secretaryto the Governmentof India. In 1870 he returned to the Northwest Provinces as a member of the Board of Revenue and in 1882 retired from the Indian Service but did not return to England until someyears later. During his years of residencein India, but chiefly between1862 and 1885,Hume devotedhis sparetime assiduouslyto ornithologyand with the aid of variouscollectors, especially William RuxtonDavison, brought togetherone of the largestcollections of birds ever amassedby any private individual. Thesehe preservedat his homein Simla in a room specially designedfor the purpose. He had outlineda completework on the birds of India, but by accidenthis nearly completedmanuscript was destroyed in 1885. He thereuponabandoned his work on Indian birds •vhichwould necessarilyhave to be largely rewritten and offeredhis entire collection to the British Museum of Natural History.
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