[2] In 1894 he began collecting bird and insect specimens for Lionel Walter Rothschild; first in England, then in Australia.

Later, in the Pacific region (in particular the Solomon Islands, New Guinea and Bougainville, he was the first naturalist who observed the birdlife).

[3] Meek also collected reptiles for the Natural History Museum in London, including the holotype and paratype of the venomous Woodlark Island snake (Toxicocalamus longissimus) from Woodlark Island, off the east coast of British New Guinea, and described by George Albert Boulenger in 1896, as the type-species of the genus Toxicocalamus.

But, due to the horrible reputation of the islanders as cannibals, he was protected by an armed escort to bring the skins to his vessel.

[8] Despite the considerable collections of reptiles made by Meek, including the holotype and paratype of the rare elapid snake Toxicocalamus longissimus, only one reptile was named in his honour, a treesnake Dendrophis meeki, by G.A.Boulenger in 1895, this species now being a synonym of Dendrelaphis gastrostictus.