Alfred Ezra

Ezra started collecting birds while a child in India. On his journey to England, he travelled through the Pamir Mountains and Turkestan, collecting rare birds and animals on this expedition.^[1] From 1920 to 1940, his collection at Foxwarren Park was probably the finest private zoo in the world.^[2]

He kept hummingbirds and sunbirds. Their specialised diet of nectar was difficult to reproduce in captivity, and Ezra established the importance of including fat, minerals, protein, and vitamins in their diet.^[3] A mixture which he used with success added condensed milk and Mellin's Food—typically food for human babies—to honey, which was then watered down.^[4] In this way, he was able to keep a garnet-throated hummingbird for eight years—a remarkable record when these had once been thought impossible to keep in captivity.^[5]

Ezra also kept parakeets. In 1933, a pair of fledgling Indian ring-necked parakeets were smothered in their nest by a swarm of bees.^[6] He had a pair of pink-headed ducks which were the last of their kind, now being thought extinct.^[7] The pink-headed ducks wouldn't breed but the Mandarin ducks which he was sent by Jean Delacour were more successful and founded a large colony across south-east England.^[8]

Ezra married Muriel Sassoon, with whom he had two daughters, Aline and Ruth. He died at Foxwarren Park on 1 August 1955, age 82, after a lengthy illness.^[1]