BOU CHECKLIST REVIEWS
The Birds of St Helena
Rowlands, B.W., Trueman, T., Olson, S.L., McCulloch, M.N. & Brooke, R.K
296 pages. BOU Checklist no. 16. Tring, Hertfordshire: British
Ornithologists’ Union, 1998.
£20.00 (UK & EC), £23.00, US$38.00 (rest of the world). ISBN
0-907446-20-5.
Ask most people what they know about St Helena and they will say, quite
correctly, that it is the island to which Napoleon Bonaparte was banished
following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, even if they may not be so
correct in telling you quite where it is. Ask a well-informed birder, and
they will know that it is home to the endemic Wirebird or St Helena Plover
Charadrius sanctaehelenae, but probably not much more than that.
Until now it was difficult to
find out more about this remote island in the South Atlantic, over 1900 km
west of Angola and more than 3000 km east-to-southeast of Brazil, which is
still accessible only by sea. I discovered this recently when researching
the island’s ornithological literature before a three-day visit during a
cruise which called in at most of the Atlantic islands between South Georgia
and Britain. Data on the island’s avifauna are scattered throughout the
literature in the form of papers, letters, research reports, articles,
newspaper reports, voyage and expedition accounts, historical and general
accounts of the island, early historical works on Africa and more general
works on avifauna.
The great strength of this work
is that it pulls all these together into one very comprehensive and
authoritative volume, the latest in the BOU Checklist series. It provides a
very full account of the bird life of St Helena since the island was
discovered in 1502, meticulously researched and clearly presented. As the
number of species involved is small compared with that covered by other
Checklists in this series, it has been possible to give every one,
particularly the breeding birds, a rather fuller treatment. Various aspects
of St Helena ornithology are discussed in the introductory chapters,
including a detailed history, vegetation and bird habitats, introduction of
alien animals, migration and movements, breeding, guano exploitation and a
history of conservation action.
St Helena is far from the island
paradise discovered in 1502; its wildlife has been changed drastically by
introduced plants, animals (mostly mammals) and diseases. As with almost all
islands, its biological history since its discovery has been a disaster.
This book documents that history very thoroughly, setting out clearly the
past and present totals of species and numbers of landbirds (only 11 species
now breed, of which nine have been introduced) and of seabirds (only eight
species breed, with fewer than 5000 pairs now estimated). Details are given
of extinct species, reference is made to over 3000 specimens from fossil
remains found on the island, and a plea is made for further such work to be
done.
Considerable space is devoted to
current and recommended conservation action, with a suggestion that the
uniqueness of the fauna and flora of St Helena places the island high on the
international table of importance in conserving the earth’s biodiversity.
This excellent book, for the first time, provides in one place the data to
enable priorities to be confirmed and further action to be taken.
• Reviewed by Tony Marr in Ibis 141 (1) January 1999
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