BOU CHECKLIST REVIEWS
The Birds of Corsica
by Thibault, J-C & Bonnacorsi, G.
BOU Checklist No 17 172 pages inc. 16 pages of colour photographs, maps, etc
British Ornithologists’ Union. Ł22.00. ISBN 0-907446-21-3.
After The Birds of Cyprus (BOU Checklist series No. 6), and The Birds of
Sicily (BOU Checklist series No. 11), this volume is the third of a series
dealing with birds of Mediterranean islands. Jean-Claude Thibault, a
distinguished ornithologist and scientific assistant at the Parc Naturel Régional
de Corse for over 20 years, and Gilles Bonaccorsi, a fine birdwatcher and a
Corsican, are well placed to give an accurate account of the birdlife of the
‘Island of Beauty’.
The book is well designed and
illustrated with 35 beautiful colour plates giving an idea of the more
typical and scenic habitats of Corsica. Included among the many
ornithologists attracted to the island are John Whitehead, discoverer of the
Corsican Nuthatch Sitta whiteheadi, and F.C.R. Jourdain. A 13-page
introduction sets the scene, giving details on the general history, geology,
geography, climate, vegetation of the island, history of the bird fauna and
on some conservation problems. These are exemplified in more detail in
tables at the end of the book. Then follows the systematic list of 323
species of birds recorded so far on the island, even if only once. The
systematic status of the breeding species, many of which are represented by
subspecies, is carefully and critically described, giving a refreshing
insight into patterns of differentiation on the larger islands of the
Mediterranean. Results of the most recent studies from molecular phylogenies
are carefully reported, for example those of E. Pasquet on the
phylogeny of the three Mediterranean nuthatches. His studies demonstrate
that the Corsican Nuthatch does not belong to a monophyletic group which
includes the Algerian S. ledanti and Krüper’s S. krueperi
nuthatches, as believed for so long, but is more closely related to the S.
canadensis group than to any other Mediterranean species.
Each species is assigned to one
(or more) of the eight classes that depict its status, either as a breeder,
migrant or wintering bird. Species accounts include general data on status,
distribution, abundance and phenology within the island. Then, for breeding
species, a separate section gives, whenever available, many useful details
on habitats, density, time of reproduction, clutch size, brood size and
population trends. The book ends with five appendices (unconfirmed or
doubtful records, rare species, population trends, censuses of species etc.)
and a reference list of 456 titles.
What makes the text particularly
useful, not only for ornithologists visiting the island, but also as a
research tool for anyone interested in faunistics and biogeography, is the
accuracy of the data, the many references to the literature and the
deliberate concern of the authors to put Corsican birdlife in a broader
spatial context including the larger islands of the (mostly) western part of
the Mediterranean basin.
Of course, there are inevitably
some faults in such a book. Although the introduction includes many basic
data on the Corsican environment, the authors could have given more
attention to the history of the vegetation which has been heavily
transformed by humans through the last three millennia. For example,
although the Downy Oak Quercus humilis has been of paramount
importance as a dominant tree during most of the Holocene at low and
mid-altitudes, this species is not mentioned as a component of forests
although today it still constitutes, in some parts of the island, important
stands to which some species, e.g. local populations of Blue Tits Parus
caeruleus, are closely adapted. More seriously, there should have been a
section on the components of the so-called insular syndrome, even if the
authors find some of them controversial, to justify the many studies on
Corsica into island biology, at both community and population levels, over
the past two decades. However, such minor problems do not detract from the
authors’ accomplishment in presenting an invaluable and up-to-date account
on the birds of this island.
• Reviewed by Jacques Blondel, Ibis
142: 511-512.
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