Edward Hamilton Aitken

Behind the Bungalow (Dodo Press) Edward Hamilton Aitken

Edward Hamilton Aitken (1851-1909) was a humourist, naturalist and a writer especially on the wildlife of India. He was well known to Anglo-Indians by the pen-name of Eha. He entered the Customs and Salt Department of the Government of Bombay in 1876, and served in Kharaghoda (referred to as Dustypore in The Tribes on my Frontier, 1883), Uran, North Kanara and Goa Frontier, Ratnagiri, and Bombay itself. He explored the jungles on the hills near Vihar around Bombay and wrote a book called The Naturalist on the Prowl (1894). His writing style was accurate and at the same time amusing to his readers. He studied most of his subjects in life and was very restricted in his collecting. In May, 1903, he was appointed Chief Collector of Customs and Salt Revenue at Karachi, and in November, 1905, was made Superintendent in charge of the District Gazetteer of Sind. He retired from the service in August 1906. His other works include: An Indian Naturalist's Foreign Policy (1883), Behind the Bungalow (1889) and The Common Birds of Bombay (1900).