Manual For Pacific Birdwatchers

CE A BIRDS OF THE TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEAN, an identification manual published by the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, will be eagerly welcomed by ornithologists, fisher men and others who are interested in identifying the seabirds they come across at sea.

The manual covers all the islands of the tropical Pacific from the Bonin and Hawaiian Islands in the north to the Kermadecs and Easter

Island in the south. It does not cover the New Guinea mainland, Norfolk Island or Lowe Howe Island.

The author is Warren B. King, of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Vertebrate Zoology, who says in an introduction: “Birds which occur regularly in the area are considered in detail; those which have been recorded only rarely as stragglers from their normal ranges outside the area are covered in a more cursory fashion”.

The manual is produced offset from typescript and has more than 150 pages. It is divided into four parts: 9 The seabirds and their environment, and techniques of observing and preserving specimens for future study. 9 A series of 11 plates with drawings (such as those reproduced here ) by Tina C. Clapp which depict in flight all the seabirds which occur regularly in the tropical Pacific. 9 Detailed descriptions of the characteristics, food, preferred habitats, and ranges of the 107 species so far recorded in the area; plus distribution maps showing the ranges of the most abundant species. 9 A list of the species recorded on or near each of the 28 island groups in the tropical Pacific, with information on their status there, and their breeding and migration schedules (if available).

The author says the manual is by no means the last word on the identification or distribution of seabirds in the tropical Pacific, and that com ments or suggestions on discrepancies or omissions are invited.

Copies of the manual are available on request from the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.