Thomas H. Ayres (July 1838 – 31 July 1913) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

. Ayres is commemorated in the names of the Ayres' hawk-eagle (''Hieraaetus ayresii''), Ayres' cisticola (''Cisticola ayresii''), and the

white-winged flufftail The white-winged flufftail (''Sarothrura ayresi'') is a very rare African bird in the family Sarothruridae. The estimated global population size of white-winged flufftails is less than 250 adults. These birds reside in Ethiopia and South Africa b ...

(''Sarothura ayresi'').

Early life and career

Ayres was born in

Hereford, England Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population of ...

, to John Ayres, the mayor of Hereford, and Helene Duschesne in July 1828. He and his family emigrated to

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

as part of the great influx of British settlers to South Africa in 1850. Two years later, Ayres joined a group of colonists departing for the gold fields of Australia, but was unsuccessful and returned to Natal a few years later to farm in what is now the

Pinetown Pinetown is a large area that is part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, inland from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Pinetown is situated 16 km west of Durban at an elevation of 1,000 to 1,300 feet (305 to 395 m). History Pin ...

district, just inland of

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

Natal period

Ayres became one of the colonists in Natal who augmented their incomes by collecting and preparing items of natural history, which were sold to ardent and often well-funded naturalists in western Europe. Most new bird species shot by Ayres were named by K. J. G. Hartlaub of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

in Germany. Some of the species named by Hartlaub on Ayres's specimens were from the Port Natal area or just inland, including the ashy flycatcher, ''Muscicapa'' (''Alseonax'') ''caerulescens'', and the

green twinspot The green-backed twinspot or green twinspot (''Mandingoa nitidula'') is an estrildid finch found in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The IUCN has classified the species as being of least concern. Subspecies The green-backed twinspot has four ...

. Ayres shot the type of the elusive forest-dwelling orange thrush, ''Turdus'' (''Zoothera'') ''gurneyi'', in Town Bush,

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

, and was instrumental in obtaining the type of

Gurney's sugarbird Gurney's sugarbird (''Promerops gurneyi'') is a medium-sized passerine endemic to the mid- and high-altitude grassland velds in southern Africa. It belongs to the family Promeropidae, which contains one genus, ''Promerops'', and two species. Gur ...

, ''Promerops gurneyi'', somewhere in Natal, which was described by

Jules Verreaux Jules Pierre Verreaux (24 August 1807 – 7 September 1873) was a French botanist and ornithologist and a professional collector of and trader in natural history specimens. He was the brother of Édouard Verreaux and nephew of Pierre Antoine Dela ...

in 1871. Ayres's main patron was

John Henry Gurney Sr. John Henry Gurney (4 July 1819 – 20 April 1890) was an English banker, amateur ornithologist, and Liberal Party politician of the Gurney family. Life Gurney was the only son of Joseph John Gurney of Earlham Hall, Norwich, Norfolk. At the age ...

, of Norwich, England, who consulted Hartlaub on taxonomy. Gurney disposed some of his material to R. Bowdler Sharpe of the

British Museum (Natural History) The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

, in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, London, and others.

Transvaal period

In 1865 Thomas and his brother Jack moved to the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

, where they farmed, panned for gold, brewed and collected birds for sale. He and his brother also hunted and traded with the

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape Colony, Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controll ...

settlers. He settled down at

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty river" ...

, where he ultimately died. Here he did much to encourage the young Austin Roberts, who was to become a well-known zoologist. The

slaty egret The slaty egret (''Egretta vinaceigula'') is a small, dark egret. It is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' (AEWA) applies. It is classified as Vulnerable, the biggest thre ...

and white-winged crake, ''S. ayresi'', were new species that he obtained in this region.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayres, Thomas 1828 births 1913 deaths South African ornithologists