Leofwin (or Leoffn) Beresford Mouritz, the son of Henry Joseph Mouritz of
Chicago, USA, and his wife Evelyn Louise, born Noble, was a prospector, stockman and ornithologist. He did a good deal
of ornithological work in England, especially in and around London. Most of his
earlier observations were made in Richmond Park, near his home on the west side
of London, and at the age of seventeen he published an article in the Zoologist on the birds of the
neighbourhood. After extending his observations to particularly the moorlands
in the south-western part of Surrey he decided, with several other ornithologists,
to publish an annual report on the birds of Surrey in the Zoologist. The first of these reports appeared in 1907. However,
the work was discontinued when he left for Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
later that year.
Mouritz compiled 'Ornithological notes from the
south-western border of Rhodesia', a paper that was presented on his behalf by
E.C. Chubb* before the Rhodesia Scientific Association in Bulawayo in June 1910
and published in the association's Proceedings
(1910). It presented an annotated list with breeding notes. His next paper, 'Notes
on Euplectes xanthomelas, Ruepp' was
a study of the Yellow-rumped Wydah in Zimbabwe and appeared in the Journal of the South African Ornithologists'
Union (1913). From August to December 1911 Mouritz prospected in south-eastern
Katanga, Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). His notes on
birds observed in Katanga were published in The
Ibis (1914). During 1912 he was again in Zimbabwe. His comprehensive 'Notes
on the ornithology of the Matopo District' (a total of 70 pages) was published
in The Ibis (1915), in two parts, in
the form of an annotated list. He was a careful and well-informed observer and
collector, but the whereabouts of the material he collected is unknown.
When Mouritz left Zimbabwe he first returned to England and
then proceeded to Australia, where he worked as a stockman at Dalby,
Queensland. In September 1914, following the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918),
he joined the Australian Army as a private in the Second Light Horse Regiment,
embarked in Brisbane that same month, and was killed in the battle on the
Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, the next year.
Mouritz became a member of the British Ornithologists' Union
in 1912 and was also a member of the South African Ornithologists' Union. He
was not married.
