C . G . Finch - Davies Claude Gibney Finch - Davies ( 24 May 1875 – 4 August 1920 ) was a British soldier , ornithologist and painter who produced a series of paintings of birds of South Africa in the early part of the 20th century . Life history . He was born in Delhi , India , the third child and eldest son of Major - General Sir William and Lady Elizabeth B . Davies née Field . His father later became Governor of Delhi and was awarded the Order of the Star of India , while his mother was said to be an expert on Indian snakes . At the age of six , in keeping with the custom of the time , Davies was sent to school in England , where his scholastic performance was unenthusiastic . Having finished his schooling , Davies joined the Cape Mounted Riflemen in 1893 at their recruiting office in London . In that same year his regiment saw service in Pondoland in South Africa . They were sent there to keep the peace after that territory had been annexed by the Cape Colony . As a professional soldier Davies was posted to various remote places in the Eastern Cape , and this fostered an interest in natural history and in particular , birdlife . Within a year or two , he was collecting bird specimens and starting sketches and paintings . In his field sketchbooks he provided copious notes about each species he illustrated - at first his own field observations , but later augmented by information culled from books and scientific journals . His style of painting rapidly evolved to show great detail in the plumage while retaining a lifelike appearance . By 1905 he had produced some 200 paintings of consistently high quality . 1897 - 1913 . In 1897 Private 1st Class CG Davies , with 15 others of his regiment , was sent to London to attend the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria , and was promoted to corporal on his return to South Africa . The outbreak of the Anglo - Boer War shortly after , put his birding interests on hold , but on the positive side , afforded him the opportunity of extensive travel in southern Africa . Even without the leisure time to paint , he continued to observe , make notes and collect the odd specimen . With the end of the War in 1902 , he returned to Pondoland and promotion to sergeant . The next twelve years of relative peace saw Davies ' improvement as artist and ornithologist . He explored the Eastern Cape thoroughly and produced paintings at the rate of about one a week . His completed sketchbooks were sent to his mother in England for safe - keeping , and she transcribed his pencilled notes and had unidentified species labelled by the British Museum ( Natural History ) . He began contributing to scientific journals - his first article on Pondoland birds in the initial volume of the newly formed South African Ornithologists ' Union , of which he was a founder member . The President of the Ornithologists ' Union at that time was Alwin Haagner , who was an assistant at the Transvaal Museum . He and Davies came to know each other through the many bird specimens he sold and donated to the Museum . Haagner used Davies ' illustrations to accompany several articles describing new forms and species . At about this time Davies made the acquaintance of Major Boyd Horsbrugh who was searching for a competent artist to illustrate a book he had been working on . This collaboration led to the publishing of " The Game - Birds and Waterfowl of South Africa " in 1912 , which besides the colour plates by Davies , incorporated many of his observations . In 1910 with the formation of the Union of South Africa , Davies ' regiment , now called the 1st South African Mounted Riflemen , was reposted to Matatiele in East Griqualand . Here he fell under the spell of the raptors and devoted his entire twentieth sketchbook , and seven more of his final ten , to this group of birds . He consulted career ornithologists such as William Robert Ogilvie - Grant at the British Museum about difficulties . This productive period of his life was once more interrupted by a declaration of hostilities - the First World War . 1914 - 1920 . Davies ' regiment was despatched to Port Nolloth near the southern border of German South - West Africa . After an initial skirmish , the regiment ' s orders were to patrol the border , part of which ran along the Kalahari Desert . Quite by chance , Davies could once more indulge in a population of bird species which were , for the greater part , new to him . By another stroke of good fortune his Medical Officer was Dr . Louis Clifford Thompson , a fellow birding enthusiast and the owner of a small library which Davies frequently consulted . During this period Davies started corresponding with Austin Roberts of the Transvaal Museum . The regiment returned fleetingly to the Orange River Colony to suppress a minor rebellion , after which they were ordered to Walvis Bay . On arrival Davies was promoted to lieutenant . The German troops surrendered on 1 July 1915 . Shortly after the German surrender , Davies travelled to Cape Town for medical attention , returning to South West Africa early in 1916 . It is more than likely that he met his future wife Aileen Singleton Finch , daughter of Captain W Finch , who was head of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals , on the Cape Town visit , because he returned there and married Aileen on 4 August 1916 . From that date on they were known as Finch - Davies . By 1918 Finch - Davies was publishing papers on the birds of the towns of Okahandja and Outjo in what is now Namibia . He was still supplying specimens to the Transvaal Museum in exchange for access to their journals and preserved specimens , despite the difficulties due to his remote posting . The good news that his regiment was soon to return to South Africa , prompted him to take a month ' s leave so that he could visit Walvis Bay , to study the profusion of coastal birds there . By early 1919 he was stationed at Roberts Heights just outside Pretoria . By now the couple had two children - a son and a recently born daughter . Despite Aileen ' s chagrin at his preoccupation with birds , Finch - Davies continued to put in long hours at the Transvaal Museum library . In January 1920 the Museum found that Finch - Davies had removed some 230 plates from reference books which he had consulted . In May 1920 Breijer , director of the Transvaal Museum , received a letter from Louis Péringuey , director of the South African Museum in Cape Town , in which he disclosed that some 130 plates were missing from their reference books . Despite the Museum ' s not preferring charges , the incident became public knowledge . Finch - Davies ' paintings were held as security by the Museum until such time as he could pay for the replacement of the damaged books . Even though his actions were considered impulsive and that his judgement had been clouded by his obsession with illustrating birds , the damage done to his reputation was irreparable . Finch - Davies was transferred to Cape Town where Aileen , who had produced a second son in June 1920 , joined him . It was evident to all who knew him , that Finch - Davies was suffering severe emotional distress . On the morning of 4 August 1920 he was found dead in his bed by his orderly . The cause of his death was recorded as angina pectoris . He was accorded a military funeral and interred at Maitland Cemetery in Cape Town . Austin Roberts edited " Roberts Birds of South Africa " in 1940 and " Our South African Birds " in 1941 , and it is readily apparent that the illustrations in these books are copies of the Finch - Davies plates held by the Transvaal Museum .