Descriptions of birds in Micronesia began with the naming of _Halcyon c. cinnamomina_ in 1821; the most recent description is that of _Rhipidura rufifrons mariae_ in 1946. In all, 131 descriptions have designated type localities in Micronesia. Table 1 lists the dates (on the basis of ten-year intervals) when names of birds (synonyms or otherwise) were proposed. In the period from 1821 to 1860, twenty-five birds were made known to science by the earliest workers, including Kittlitz, Lesson, Bonaparte, and Pelzeln. In the period from 1861 to 1880, thirty-four birds were newly named, mostly by Hartlaub and Finsch, from the collections which the Godeffroy Museum obtained through the efforts of Kubary, Tetens, Peters, and Heinsohn. Nineteen original descriptions were published from 1881 to 1900, principally by Oustalet and Hartert, who studied the material of Marche and Owston, respectively. From 1901 to 1910, only four birds were described, but from 1911 to 1940, forty-seven descriptions were published, mostly by the Japanese following World War I. From 1931 to 1940, the number of known birds was increased by the efforts of Mayr, who studied the material of the Whitney South Sea Expedition. From 1941 to date only two original descriptions have appeared--only one was postwar. Except for possible undescribed subspecies in the northern Marianas, I think that the heyday of the taxonomist in ornithology in Micronesia is over. The field of avian ecology in Micronesia has barely been scratched. TABLE 1. COMPILATION OF THE DATES (ON THE BASIS OF TEN-YEAR INTERVALS) WHEN ORIGINAL DESCRIPTIONS OF BIRDS OF MICRONESIA APPEARED. ============+==============+============+============== | No. of | | No. of YEARS | descriptions | YEARS | descriptions ------------+--------------+------------+-------------- 1821-1830 | 8 | 1881-1890 | 9 1831-1840 | 8 | 1891-1900 | 10 1841-1850 | 4 | 1901-1910 | 4 1851-1860 | 5 | 1911-1920 | 10 1861-1870 | 11 | 1921-1930 | 15 1871-1880 | 23 | 1931-1940 | 22 | 1941-1949 | 2 ------------+--------------+------------+-------------- CHECK-LIST OF THE BIRDS OF MICRONESIA The 206 kinds of birds of 150 full species known to occur in Micronesia belong to 91 genera of 37 families of 13 orders. In the following list, nonresident birds are marked with an *; birds introduced by man are marked with a [+]. Class AVES--birds PAGE Order PROCELLARIIFORMES--albatrosses, petrels, and allies Family Diomedeidae--albatrosses _Diomedia nigripes_ Audubon* Black-footed Albatross 63 Family Procellariidae--petrels and shearwaters