END OF AN ERA



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societies. They shared the birds brought back by collecting expeditions

and were constantly giving each other specimens they had obtained or

reared. Jean Delacour wrote that Alfred Ezra’s generosity and unselfishness

were proverbial and he benefited from them more than anyone else. They

enjoyed 20 years of delightful friendship and close association, including a

marvellous visit to India in 1933=1934, where at his Calcutta home, Ruth’s

uncle kept an astonishing number of birds and other animals, many of which

eventually found their way to Fox warren and Cleres. Many of the birds

Delacour brought over from Indochina also went to Foxwarren. Collectors

such as Webb, Cordier, Frost and Shaw Mayer brought over great rarities

for them from around the world, many imported for the first time and, it

was probable, he concluded, that never again would aviculture reach such

a high level.


Jean Delacour and Alfred Ezra sat together on the council of the

Zoological Society of London. Ruth’s father had become a Fellow of the

Zoological Society of London in 1909, soon after which he was elected a

member of its council, on which he served for many years. He was a most

generous contributor to the zoo collection, making valuable gifts including

Elephants Elephas maximus , Tigers Panthera tigris and other Asiatic animals,

as well as a pair of Kodiak Bears Ursus arctos middendorffi , which lived at

Whipsnade and bred there.


Ruth was elected to the council of the Avicultural Society in November

1963 and, subsequently was elected a Vice President, and then, on the death

of Jean Delacour in 1985, was elected President of the Avicultural Society.

In 1970, Raymond Sawyer had joined Ruth at Chestnut Lodge and together

they assembled the finest private collection of birds in this country, if not in

Europe. It became world-famous and was, and continues to be, visited by

many notable aviculturists from around the world. To date some 18 or so

first UK breedings have occurred there. The President’s Garden Party for

Avicultural Society members and their guests was hosted each year by Ruth

and Raymond. All of the money raised by the garden parties, Ruth most

generously donated to the society’s funds and this in large part, accounts

for the society’s present sound financial footing. When Ruth and Raymond

married in 2004, their many friends were delighted at the news.


Ruth was the ninth President in the society’s 113-year history. Her father,

Alfred Ezra OBE, held the office from 1926-1955.



