Eldest son of Captain H.H. Bird of Little Waltham Hall, Essex and his wife Eliza Sophia (nee Master). Although Bird inherited his father’s large estate in Essex, he preferred to live in Norfolk where his father had bought Burnely Hall, West Somerton and hired Kelling Hall. Bird was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and in 1887 married Kate Bonner, daughter of Henry Calthorpe Bonner of the Manor House, East Rudham. They had two sons and two daughters. After a time as a master at Weymouth College, Bird took holy orders, and in 1887 accepted the curacy of Brunstead, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Bird took a very active role in rural affairs and his obituary in Transactions Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society, XI, 1924, 609 notes that he had many of the characteristics of Gilbert White. His work on beetles included the publication of a note on Barynotus moerens Fab. in Ent.mon.Mag, 27, 1891, 222-23 (with the help of W.W. Fowler) and the preparation of a list of Norfolk records. Martin Collier informs me however, that this list which is contained in a notebook in the Castle Museum, Norwich, is identical with records quoted by James Edwards when compiling his Norfolk list (Transactions Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society, 1895) as belonging to the Rev. Theodore Wood.
Bird was a member of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalist’s Society from 1882 and the British Ornithologists Union from 1892 (President 1908-09). (MD 10/01)