and became a distinguished bird artist, going on to illustrate Percy A. Taverner's Birds of Western Canada (1926) and Birds of Canada (1934). Brooks' style was more impressionistic, giving more emphasis to the background and artistry. Others artists like Fuertes tended to give more care to the detail in the foreground subject. He was also recruited during World War I for his skills as a sharp-shooter and served with the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion and later was a chief instructor training snipers. He was awarded with a Distinguished Service Order. During the Second World War, he also contributed his paintings to the Red Cross. While posted in Flanders, he reported on the birds of a war-zone. He noted that rats and pigs tended to become numerous. He also recorded the predation of bird's eggs by slugs, a phenomenon that was studied in greater detail only in 2017. In 1921, part of his home was burned down. In this fire, he lost many of his old notes and books including a series on Indian birds that he had since the age of 3. In 1926 he married Marjorie and in 1927 he moved to Brownsville, Texas from where he worked on illustrations for volume 3 of "Birds of Massachusetts", a work that had been interrupted by the death of Louis Fuertes. References External links Comox Archives and Museum Vernon Museum Major Allan Brooks of Okanagan Landing by Jean Webber, Royal British Columbia Museum Living Landscapes project Artwork by Allan Brooks Canadian artists Canadian bird artists Canadian illustrators Canadian naturalists Canadian ornithologists People from Etawah 1869 births 1946 deaths Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Canadian people of Irish descent 19th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 20th-century Canadian painters People from Chilliwack 19th-century Canadian male artists 20th-century Canadian male artists