A population of large seed finches, probably extirpated, occurred on Trinidad. Studies of specimens by Phelps & Phelps and by Meyer de Schauensee identified this population as the taxon now known as Sporophila maximiliani parkesi, but subsequent literature has often referred to these birds as S. c. crassirostris without fresh evidence or analysis. My review of specimens reaffirms their identity as S. m. parkesi, and refutes the hypothesis that this taxon should be considered a synonym of S. m. maximiliani.

A large, extinct species of Buteogallus Lesson is described from post-cranial elements in Quaternary cave deposits in western Cuba and south-central Hispaniola. The new taxon was approximately the same size as females of the extinct continental B. woodwardi, but more robust. Some fossils, recently documented from Hispaniola as Accipitridae genus and species indeterminate, are probably referable to taxa previously known from Cuba, including the new species described herein. Osteological comparisons of both living and extinct species indicate that the extinct genus Amplibuteo Campbell is synonymous with Buteogallus.

Great-winged Petrel Pterodroma macroptera is currently considered uncommon in the south-west Atlantic Ocean. However, via a compilation of all recent records available, we found evidence of a regular, wider distribution from breeding colonies in Tristan da Cunha and Gough towards South America. We review these records, report a new beach stranding in Brazil, which is the northernmost record in the south-west Atlantic, and discuss the problems of at-sea separation of Great-winged Petrel from the darkest-plumaged Trindade Petrel P. arminjoniana.

A review is presented of the seven commonest types of colour aberrations in birds together with suggestions for a standardised universal nomenclature to identify and distinguish these aberrations. These aberrations are: Leucism (congenital absence of melanin-producing cells), Progressive Greying (progressive loss of melanin-producing cells), Albino (total absence of melanin due to lack of the key enzyme), Brown (incompletely coloured melanin), Ino (even less completely coloured melanin), Dilution (altered deposition of melanin) and Melanism (altered distribution of melanin). It is proposed that these terms should be based not only on the resulting plumage but also should distinguish the underlying processes resulting in the aberrant pigmentation. By reviewing previously used terms for colour aberrations, and cross-referencing these with my proposed terminology, errors in earlier names are pointed out, and resulting in a more comprehensive nomenclature for colour aberrations found in wild birds.

A vocal analysis of the duets of pied boubous Laniarius spp. across eastern Africa is presented, focusing on birds from coastal Somalia south to Mozambique. Based on the presence or absence of certain note types in duets, and variation in their structure across different populations in this region, forms of duet were found to cluster at both larger and smaller spatial scales. Vocal congruence suggests that taxon mossambicus could be conspecific with sublacteus, whereas marked differences between these two and coastal Kenyan birds confirm their previously reported genetic distinctiveness. Patterns of vocal variation broadly align with taxonomic divisions already indicated by genetic data and I integrate these to identify and define the ranges of four distinct groups: the Tropical (major and ambiguus), Ethiopian (aethiopicus), Somali (somaliensis) and East Coast groups (sublacteus, mossambicus and extralimital limpopoensis). Species rank for birds in coastal Kenya under the name Juba Boubou L. somaliensis is also proposed, and vocal data presented here support the findings of and that plumage criteria are unreliable indicators of taxonomy in Laniarius.

The Musée de la Vallée in Barcelonnette, France, houses two privately assembled ornithological collections totalling 1,405 mounted birds and 1,686 eggs, mostly from the 19th century. According to the current IUCN Red List of threatened species, the mounts and eggs represent 36 and 18 extinct or endangered (‘E&E’) bird species, respectively. This article concentrates on the specimens of ‘E&E’ species that deserve special curatorial care. The list includes one extinct and six threatened species. Special mention is made of a Siberian Crane Leucogeranus leucogeranus egg that is apparently one of the oldest of this species in the world’s collections. In addition to IUCN status, the EDGE score of each species is also specified.

We report a new record of the Blue-necked Tanager Stilpnia cyanicollis albotibialis in the Chapada dos Veadeiros, Brazil, which could represent its rediscovery after nearly 100 years without documented records. S. c. albotibialis was known only from its holotype, collected at the Chapada dos Veadeiros, in central Brazil, in December 1929 by José Blaser, and held at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. We present behavioural data and comment on the biogeography of this subspecies, as no information concerning its ecology has been previously published.

The validity of recent changes in the taxonomic treatment of the Square-tailed Drongo Dicrurus ludwigii is assessed via analyses of morphological, morphometric, acoustic and distributional evidence. In addition to confirming the characters already recognised to distinguish West and Central African sharpei from the ludwigii group, we report previously undocumented but notable differences in voice and tail morphology. The occurrence of a hitherto unrecognised population of sharpei in south-east DR Congo, inferred from recent molecular studies, is confirmed, whilst evidence of the close approach of the two taxa in north-west Angola, within c.60 km of each other, further supports their distinctiveness. The proposal to separate sharpei itself into two species—with populations west of the Niger River recognised as occidentalis—is, however, not supported by vocal data, whilst differences in bill size, the sole known physical discriminant, are here found to be much more modest than previously reported, perhaps attributable to the larger sample sizes used in this study. Thus, on phenetic evidence, occidentalis merits no more than subspecific status.

Recently described vocal variation within the monotypic Yellow-spotted Barbet Buccanodon duchaillui has been used to suggest the presence of two allopatric species separated by the Dahomey Gap in western Africa. Using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences from two genes, we investigated molecular patterns of divergence across the species' range, in light of the published vocal variation. We found support for a genetic break at the Dahomey Gap, but also identified much deeper divergence among other populations in the eastern part of the species' range. Deep genetic divergence, and geographic variation in the species' vocalisations, suggest a greater degree of diversity in this species than currently recognised.