Name Charles Inglis | Died 1954 | |
Charles McFarlane Inglis FES, FZS (1870–1954) was a naturalist and curator of the Darjeeling museum in India from 1926 to 1948. The museum was run by the Bengal Natural History Society and many of his writings were published in that society's journal which he started and edited.
He was born 8 November 1870 in Elgin, Scotland, the son of Archibald Inglis, a retired planter in India, who went to India at the age of 18. He became a planter and during this time made studies of the birds, butterflies and dragonflies.
His ability to sketch and illustrate birds led to Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher inviting him to produce a series of articles on birds of importance to agriculture in India. These were published in the Agricultural Journal of India and were later revised and published as a book Birds of an Indian Garden in 1924.
While hunting in Bihar in 1935, Inglis shot the last specimen of pink-headed duck ever to be documented. The species is now presumed to be extinct. Inglis did not know what he had killed, until his dog, a retriever, brought the bird to him.