The Birds of Cuba : Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, No. 6

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From a contemporary literary review: "The Nuttal Ornithological Club has just issued another of its beautifully gotten up 'Memoirs.' This, the sixth issue, treats of the birds of the island of Cuba and is by Dr. Thomas Barbour who, as is well known, has made many trips to the island and is thoroughly fitted for the task that he has undertaken. His aim as he explains in the introduction is not only to describe the collections of birds that he has made in the island, but also to provide a work that will be useful to the English speaking visitors and residents who desire to know something of Cuban bird-life, and we feel that he has been eminently successful in carrying out his plan. As we turn the introductory pages we read the same story that is being told in almost every part of the world, of the destruction of forests to permit the constantly increasing cultivation of some commercial crop - sugar cane in the case of Cuba - and the consequent decrease in the native bird-life. Some species are already extinct while others have reached various stages on the same road, the Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker being one that has apparently but recently reached the end of the iourney. There is a brief historical sketch of ornithological activity in Cuba, and of the bird collections which exist on the island, of which the Gundlach collection of mounted birds, kept in permanently sealed cabinets, and the modern collection of mounts and skins, belonging to Dr. Charles T. Ramsden, are the most important. The geography and geology of the island are described in some detail. While Dr. Barbour agrees with geologists that Cuba has never had a land connection with the United States, he does consider that there has been continental connection as evidenced by the more recent discoveries of vertebrate fossils, in Cuba as well as in Haiti and Porto Rico. The several physical areas of the island with their characteristic birds are described and there is an account of the climate. To give one a practical idea of the size of Cuba the author states that if superimposed on the United States with one end at St Louis, the other would be at Jacksonville, Florida. while the complicated coastline is about 6800 miles, and the area about 44,000 square miles. Most Americans he finds have no conception of the large size of Cuba. The main text of the work consists of an annotated list of the 273 species recorded from the island, the North American migrants being very briefly treated while the native species are more fully discussed, with observations on their habits and often a discription of field characters to aid in identification. There is an index but no bibliography while four excellent photographs llustrate characteristic scenery and the conversion of virgin forest into cane fields."