Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/56

 supposed that it must have been the dastardly act of a discontented servant. It Was a truly crushing blow : the colossal work of over a quarter of a century thrown away ! The dream of his life had, as it were, vanished. There was nothing to be done. No hope was left that he would ever reap the reward he had laboured for many years to gain. The great book could never be completed. There was nothing left for him to do but give up the task.

"Few knew how deeply he felt having to come to this decision, for he said but little. The presence of his vast collection only served to constantly remind him of all he had lost ; he therefore determined regretfully to part with it. I believe he could have sold it for ten thousand pounds (less really than it was worth) to go to the United States. But he would not dream of selling it or allowing it to go anywhere but to his native land. In 1885 he made a truly noble gift of the eighty-two thousand birds and eggs (all in perfect condition and comprising two hundred and fifty types of newly discovered species) to the British Museum of Natural History in Cromwell Road. The princely offering was gratefully accepted for the nation. It was considered of such importance by the authorities that Dr. Bowdler Sharp, head of the Ornithological Department, was deputed to go to Simla, take it over, and bring it to London. All students of Indian ornithology bless the name of Hume when they go to work in the Museum.

"In 1872 he started at his own expense in Calcutta an ornithological quarterly journal, which he happily named 'Stray Feathers,' He personally edited it, and articles of great interest from his facile pen graced every issue. It proved to be most useful and popular, and was carried on up till 1899, when he gave it up as he was then living in England, and there was no one else to continue it. In