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Obituary John Hamel Elgood 1909-1998 ohnElgoodwasbornatDulwichon 16June 1909. expeditionafteracertainbirdhegotthebirdbut lost J HewaseducatedatWhitgiftMiddle School and St his trousers in the process. He had a great sense of Catherine’sCollege, Cambridge. He taughtat Regent humourandwasvery popularwith hisstudentsand Street Polytechnic and was from there recruited for kept up with some of them (by now professors the new University ofIbadan. His early interest was themselves) formanyyears. marine biologybut he soonrealised the ornithologi- John returned to England in 1965 and taught at cal potential of Ibadan and was leading bird walks Goldsmiths College and the American University in and lecturing on birds. He had a pact with Ronald Sussex. Hewasaskedback to Nigeria anddida spell Keay (at that time ChiefConservatorofForests) that at Ahmadu Bello University (Zaria) and Lagos hewouldteachRonaldbirdsinexchangeforinstru< University. HehelpedwithexaminationsinRhodesia tion on flora. twiceandtaughtforsixmonthsinPapuaNewGuinea. He saw a need for a small guide on birds and in HecameouttostaywithmeinKanoagainin 1976and I960 brought out hisBirdsofthe WestAfrican Town produced a report on thewetlandsbetween Hadejia andGarden. This stimulated interest in birds and in andNguru forKanoStateDepartmentofAgriculture. 1964theNigerianOrnithologists'Societywasformed This led to the area being officially opened as a with John as Secretary, Hilary Fiy as Editor of the Wetland Reserve by Prince Bernhard of the Bulletin and myselfas Treasurer. John remained as Netherlands. Secretary and we produced regular bulletins until John was an active member of the British 1989,whenthesocietymetamorphosedintotheWest Ornithologists’l nionandBritishOrnithologists’Club AfricanOrnithologicalSocietyandjohnwasappointed servingontheCouncilofbothsocieties. Hewasalso Vice-President. a frequent lecturer in the Bournemouth Science John found and described a new species of Society. Malimbus (ibadanensis), some of the work being John would have thoroughly approved of his doneinhisowngarden. HeproducedachecklistThe memorialserviceinHighcliffeMethodistChurch. We BirdsofNigeriain1964(BritishOrnithologists'Union, enteredthechurchtothesoundofbird-songontape London)andwhenthiswentoutofprintheorganised (one of his daughters threatened a questionnaire at a team to produce a second edition in 1994 (BOU, the end of the service) and the service sheet was Tring). The first book printed by Ibadan University encircledbyexoticbirdsholdingglassesofwine.We Press was Animal Classification by Joe Webb and have all losta great friend. * John Elgood and in 1964John produced Certificate RE. Sharland Biologyfor TropicalSchools. John and his wife Peggy toured frequently in This obituary first appeared in Malimbus 21: 7+-75 Nigeria and stayed with us in Kano many times. In (1999)andisreproducedherewiththekindpermission 1962hewentwithateamtoBornutoinvestigatethe ofthe editor, AlanTye, and author, BobSharland. Queleaproblem. Heoftentoldthestoryofhowinan 50-BullABC Vol7No 1 Obituary