With Edward Sabine and J.E. Gray, Kirby prepared the natural history supplement for Captain William Parry's 1819–1820 polar expedition to seek the North-West Passage: his work formed the insect section of the "Account of the Animals seen by the late Northern Expedition while within the Arctic Circle" 1821. His friend W.J. Hooker established his contact with Dr John Richardson to involve him in the publication of findings from Sir John Franklin's 1st and 2nd expeditions, the insect section in the "Fauna Boreali-Americana" in 1837.