Thomas Ayres (ornithologist)

[1] Ayres became one of the colonists in Natal who augmented their incomes by collecting and preparing items of natural history, which were sold to ardent and often well-funded naturalists in western Europe.

[1] Some of the species named by Hartlaub on Ayres's specimens were from the Port Natal area or just inland, including the ashy flycatcher, Muscicapa (Alseonax) caerulescens, and the green twinspot.

[1] Ayres's main patron was John Henry Gurney Sr., of Norwich, England, who consulted Hartlaub on taxonomy.

Gurney disposed some of his material to R. Bowdler Sharpe of the British Museum (Natural History), in South Kensington, London, and others.

[1] In 1865 Thomas and his brother Jack moved to the Transvaal, where they farmed, panned for gold, brewed and collected birds for sale.