Its History, Peculiarities, Habits and Behaviour

c.1920

This is a very rare booklet that was authored by Frederick Vaughan Kirby (who signed his work "Mohoza"). Kirby was a soldier, traveller, big-game hunter and collector of natural history specimens.

Irish born, Kirby hunted extensively throughout Portuguese East Africa and the eastern Transvaal until the Anglo-Boer War, publishing two books on his hunting experiences, In haunts of wild game in 1896 and Sport in east central Africa in 1899. After service in the Anglo-Boer War Kirby applied for employment on the Sabie Game Reserve but instead he became superintendent of the Transvaal Museum's zoological gardens until 1907, by 1908 he was making a living by selling birds and mammals to museums and private collectors. In 1911 Kirby became the Game Conservator for Zululand and he was instrumental in the proclamation of the uMkhuze Game Reserve before his retirement in 1929. Over the course of his life Kirby hunted elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, buffalo, lion, leopard, giraffe, eland, kudu, sable antelope, wildebeest, crocodiles and numerous smaller game. Kirby hunted extensively with a Gibbs-Farquharson-Metford and a Gibbs-Metford double rifle in 461 Gibbs, a Westley Richards 12 bore double rifle and a 10 bore double smoothbore.

225mm x 283mm x 2mm

R3,500