( 87 ) 

 AUSTIN GEOFFREY LEIGH. 



Warwickshire ornithology has sustained a very serious 

 loss by the death of this young and ardent worker, who 

 was killed in action in France on Jime 4th, 1916. 



The third and youngest son of Mr. George L. Leigh, 

 he lived practically the whole of his life at Hampton-in- 

 Arden, Warwickshire, where he was born on July 20th, 

 1893. He was very early in life attracted by the bird- 

 life around him and began making observations and 

 collectmg eggs. By the time he reached his eighteenth 

 year this predilection had become a passion, and he 

 conceived the idea of producing a history of the birds of 

 Warwickshire. From that time, till he joined the Army 

 towards the close of 1914, the greater part of his leisure 

 was employed in collecting material for what he intended 

 should be the great work of his life. He had already 

 accumulated a considerable amount of matter, but had 

 no intention of publishing for some years to come, for 

 though such a work as he contemplated must necessarily'" 

 be to a large extent a compilation, yet he Avished it to 

 be as far as possible a record of his personal experience 

 and observation. 



Soon after the Mar broke out Leigh enlisted as a 

 private in the 2nd City (Birmingham) Battalion of the 

 Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and at once threw himself 

 into his mihtary duties with the zest that characterised 

 him in everythmg he did, quickly becoming an expert 

 rifle-shot and getting his stripe as lance-corporal. This 

 unfortunatel}' put a stop to his systematic ornithological 

 work, but he continued to make notes on birds whenever 

 opportunity ofiEered, and as for some months he was still 

 in his native county of Warwickshire, training at Sutton 

 Coldfield, he added to his store of information, finding 

 for instance two nests of the Stonechat, thus establishing 

 the fact within his own experience and much to his 

 satisfaction that this bird is a Warwickshire breeder, 

 statements on the subject by other authors being of too 

 general a character to satisfy his very exact mind. 



