Recent Literature

Definitions for migrant birds: what is a Neotropical migrant? F. E. Hayes. 1995. Auk 112:521-523. Dept. Biol., Caribbean Union College, Box 175, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (The author proposes a more precise terminology for migratory species. Definitions are provided for altidudinal, Austral, Australian, boreal, Ethiopian, intratropical, Nearctic, Neotropical and Palearctic migrants. The author defines Neotropical migrant as "any species of bird or population of the species breeding in South America that regularly migrates northward during the non-breeding season." Definitions are based on the biogeographic realm [or geographic area] in which the species breeds.) GAS [Editor's note: Although most western hemisphere ornithologists in the last couple of decades have been applying the term "Neotropical migrant" to Nearcticbreeding birds that migrate to the Neotropics, the principle of defining migrants on the basis of breeding area proposed by Hayes is a long established tradition. -MKM]