Work on the publication date of Bonnaterre & Vieillot's Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique calls into question the priority of some names in use today. Among these Myrmothera guttata Vieillot, 1824, proves to be a junior synonym of a name introduced earlier. The possible reversal of precedence is studied here in compliance with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

All information relating to the Cuban palaeo-avifauna since the first published list in 1928 to the present, is summarised and presented as a catalogue with commentary. I update data on the composition, systematics and distribution of fossil and subfossil birds from Quaternary (Late Pleistocene-Holocene interval) deposits in Cuba, with a necessary critical review. Thirty-six taxa (30 extinct, two poorly represented and apparently also extinct, and four extirpated) are listed as valid records in Section I, under 14 families, with Teratornithidae the only extinct family grouping. Birds of prey and scavengers constitute 72.2% of these taxa, with Accipitridae (22.2%) and Falconidae (16.6%) the best represented, followed by nocturnal raptors. Sections II and III comment on and discuss material referred to 29 taxa, of which one is of dubious identity and the others misidentified and / or synonymised at class, family, genus or species level. Cuban neospecies currently known in paleontological localities throughout the archipelago are listed in Section IV; 49 are identified (14 considered today as endemic species, including six endemic genera) in 26 families.

In deciding to provide a complement to Buffon's Histoire naturelle des oiseaux, Temminck, who had not previously published a ‘part work’ on this scale undertook to do so under the name Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d’oiseaux. At the start Temminck did not provide texts; each part included six plates. Of the many problems to solve the three main ones seemed to be: (i) the number of plates per part, (ii) the dates of publication, and (iii) the need to discover the wrappers issued with parts 1–20. The plates carried French names, but for these 20 parts the wrappers provided the new scientific names and attributed authorship. From previous studies we conclude that the Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées must be considered as two works, and that the first of these (livraisons 1–20) must be seen as complete with the inclusion of the wrappers. We then examine all names applicable to images in these 120 plates, assessing authorship, date of publication and date precedence. We identified three cases where names long in prevailing usage require application to the ICZN for a ruling on reversal of precedence. We list 15 names that have been in widespread use over the last 60 years that risk changes if the names on the wrappers are judged unacceptable. Our Appendix deals with the 86 names Temminck thought new: (a) 27 of Temminck’s own names with precedence; (b) 19 manuscript names for which Temminck is the author; (c) 27 Temminck names which are junior synonyms; (d) 12 manuscript names from Temminck that are also junior synonyms; (e) one name used for two specimens Temminck thought were of the same species but proved different.

Species in mountainous areas have characteristic elevational ranges, but with some variation from site to site. Such variation has been studied extensively elsewhere in the world, but not yet for New Guinea bird species. Hence, we examined five sources of that variation for New Guinea birds: latitude, competition, slope, the Massenerhebung effect, and physical barriers. Decreases of species elevational ranges with latitude are illustrated by three sets of examples: 20 species confined to New Guinea's mountains, but which descend to sea level at higher latitudes in Australia (joined to New Guinea at Pleistocene times of low sea level); 13 sea-level populations of some of the same New Guinea upland species on New Guinea's Fly River bulge; and 11 populations on the Aru Islands (part of Pleistocene New Guinea and Australia). Many New Guinea species contract or expand their elevational ranges, associated with the presence or absence of competing congenerics, which segregate by elevation at sites of sympatry. The flat Karimui Basin at an elevation of 1,110 m illustrates effects of slope, because the basin supports populations of many species otherwise characteristic of the flat lowlands, and lacks populations of many hill forest species characteristic of the sloping terrain found at that elevation elsewhere in New Guinea. We provide three sets of New Guinea examples of the Massenerhebung effect described for mountains elsewhere in the world: shifts of species to higher elevations on large high mountains far from the sea than on small coastal mountains or isolated mountains. Finally, we suggest that very steep high ridges boxing in a watershed on the Foja Mts. constitute dispersal barriers that have prevented 33 species expected at that watershed's elevation from arriving or establishing themselves.

We present evidence that confirms the streaked Fregetta lineata is a valid extant species that breeds on New Caledonia and endorse the vernacular name New Caledonian Storm Petrel. We review taxonomic deliberations over the historic five ‘Pealea’ streaked storm petrel specimens. Three belong to the recently rediscovered New Zealand Storm Petrel F. maoriana. We study six biometrics of the other two identical-looking specimens, one from Samoa, the other from the Marquesas Islands, a third ‘new’ specimen collected off Brisbane, and other Fregetta taxa. Results of Principal Component Analyses, Discriminant Analyses, and a review of phylogenetic relationships between Fregetta storm petrels, F. lineata and F. maoriana, lead us to conclude that the three specimens represent a single taxon, F. lineata. Furthermore, F. lineata is clearly separated from F. maoriana, White-bellied Storm Petrel F. grallaria and Black-bellied Storm Petrel F. tropica. We further conclude that storm petrels photographed at sea, off New Caledonia and in the Coral Sea, are F. lineata. We then redescribe F. lineata from at-sea observations, photographs taken at sea, and study of the three museum specimens. Criteria for in-hand and at-sea identification are presented. We report the first breeding record, from New Caledonia, a grounded fledgling presumably disoriented by onshore artificial lights. We explore likely breeding locations and conservation issues.

The specimen in Liverpool known as Forbes' Lemon Dove, collected pre-1844 purportedly in Cayenne (French Guiana), was catalogued by Forbes & Robinson in 1900 as Haplopelia principalis, despite this species having been described from the island of Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea. As a result of the discrepancy in localities, the Liverpool specimen was subsequently described as a new species (Haplopelia forbesi) by Salvadori and suggested to be from West Africa. Over the course of the next century, the new taxon was subject to a variety of taxonomic treatments. To investigate the status and provenance of Forbes' Lemon Dove, we obtained a 472 bp cyt-b sequence from the specimen. This possessed 100% similarity with a Lemon Dove Columba (Aplopelia) larvata sequence from Príncipe and 99.79% similarity with a sequence of the same species from São Tomé. This suggests that Forbes & Robinson were correct that the specimen represents A. larvata principalis and was thus probably collected on Príncipe. However, more sequencing from across the Lemon Dove's range is required to resolve the taxonomy of this complex group and place Forbes' Lemon Dove more definitively.

Silvery Pigeon Columba argentina is a Critically Endangered species whose known population is apparently tiny and confined to islands off western Sumatra. In July 2021, during a bird survey of Simeulue and surrounding islands (Aceh province, Sumatra) we found a chick of this species collected by local people, an adult kept as a cagebird, and made several observations in the wild. We describe the species' chick, report other anecdotal information concerning nesting, and supply dietary information for this little-known pigeon.

The smallest potoo, Rufous Potoo Nyctibius bracteatus is a little-known and inconspicuous species of the understorey in Amazonian terra firme forests, where it roosts by day. Currently, there are few published observations describing its natural history and reproductive ecology. We present data on nest and egg characteristics, nestling appearance, behaviour and development, and parental care, based on three different nests in three consecutive years at Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke, Manaus, central Amazonian Brazil. All nests had similar characteristics and the single egg at one nest was cream-coloured with brown spots. The young at one nest fledged when c.40 days old, but the other two nests were both predated by ant swarms, constituting the first report of such predation in the Nyctibiidae.