Ambrose Austin Lane was a farmer in the
Potchefstroom district, North-West, from 1911 or earlier until his death. He
was married three times: First, in Ireland, to Leonore Susan Arthurine Manning.
They had no children. Second, still in Ireland, to Nelly Horneck, with whom he
had two daughters. After her death he married Amy Lilian Blackman in England. They
had a son, and she survived him.
In the Potchefstroom district Lane resided on the
farm Mooibank, on the southern edge of the town, in 1919. By 1924 he had moved
to the farm Machavie, and by 1932 to the farm Rietfontein.
Lane was a keen observer of birds and published
several papers based on his observations: "Remarks on some widely distributed
groups of birds containing distinctive family traits" (Journal of the South African Ornithologists' Union, 1915, Vol.
11(1), pp. 25-29); "Notes on the Charadridae or Plover family" (South African Journal of Natural History,
1920, Vol. 2(1), pp. 76-79); "Some notes on weavers and widow-birds" (The Ostrich, 1930, Vol. 1(1), pp.
22-24); and "Birds on Rietfontein farm, Loop Spruit Valley, Potchefstroom
district" (The Ostrich, 1932, Vol.
3(1), pp. 17-20, with additional notes in 1933, Vol. 4(2), pp.71-74 and 1936,
Vol. 7, pp. 39-44). In 1916 he became a foundation member of the South African
Biological Society.
