| Activity | He was educated at Knox College, Galesburg and attended the Chicago Theological Seminary. In 1895 Bates went out to West Africa and settled in south east Cameroon. He made a living by farming and by collecting natural history specimens during his extensive travels. Many of the birds, eggs, fish, reptiles and plants collected by Bates were sent to The Natural History Museum, London, over the years. On his retirement in 1928 Bates settled in England, and wrote Handbook of the birds of West Africa (1930). Following two further expeditions to West Africa, Bates began research into the ornithology of Arabia, learned Arabic and visited Arabia himself in 1934 when aged over 70. Unfortunately, there were problems with the publication of his proposed Birds of Arabia which remains in its draft forms. Bates wrote several papers on African and Arabian birds for Ibis.
The Iris Batesiana is named after him |