The archipelago of Fernando de Noronha off north-east Brazil is well known to ornithologists as a hotspot for transatlantic vagrants, primarily for Palearctic-African migrants, but also for its two endemic passerines, Noronha Vireo Vireo gracilirostris and Noronha Elaenia Elaenia ridleyana. We present important new vagrant records including two species not previously recorded in Brazil, both of them from the Palearctic, of which one—Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus—represents a first record for South America. We list c.50 Palearctic species documented from mid-Atlantic islands, the Caribbean region, Trinidad & Tobago or from other mainland South American countries, which are potential future vagrants to Brazil, particularly given improved ornithological coverage of Fernando de Noronha or the even less well-watched archipelago of São Pedro e São Paulo (St Peter and St Paul).

We describe gamebird community structure and beta diversity at two sites in the Chinese Himalayas, and describe aspects of the biology of Blood Pheasant Ithaginis cruentus and White Eared Pheasant Crossoptilon crossoptilon. We deployed cameras from October 2011 to January 2014 at 34 sites in two areas (Langdu and Gehuaqing) within the Three Parallel Rivers UNESCO World Heritage Site (Diqing Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan). Five of the eight species of gamebirds recorded in this study were pheasants. Despite habitat similarity, beta diversity showed little overlap, with only a single Galliform, Temminck's Tragopan Tragopan temminckii, shared between the two sites. Novel information on temporal presence and activity patterns is reported for I. cruentus and C. crossoptilon, as well as population sex ratios for I. cruentus. Additional information for I. cruentus (altitudinal migration, flock demography) and C. crossoptilon (habitat and altitude association, breeding biology, flock demography) are compared with other studies, and their conservation implications are discussed.

Based on a plate and descriptions in Latham (1782, 1787), Gmelin (1788) formally named a new species of hummingbird, Trochilus multicolor. Prior to the early 1830s, this novelty was discussed and depicted by various authors and artists, but mention of it then largely vanished from the literature. This paper reviews available literature and artwork on the supposed species, reaching the conclusion that the entire corpus probably stems from a single composite specimen present in the British Museum collection from at least the early 1780s, but which was recognised as a fabrication and then destroyed in around 1819. A central role in the affair played by the then well-known, but subsequently neglected, ornithologist and artist, Thomas Davies, is highlighted, though there is no evidence of any fraud on his part.

The phylogeny and systematics of grasswrens Amytornis species are incompletely resolved, in particular for three widely distributed members of the genus. In part this is a consequence of the dispersal to European and North American collections of early specimens of now extinct populations. We describe three historical grasswren specimens from museums in Berlin and Stockholm, all of which represent taxa for which phylogenetic and / or other data are incomplete. We further identify other specimens that might contribute towards greater resolution of grasswren phylogeny.

An extensive review of Turdus ustulatusNuttall, 1840, and T. swainsoni Cabanis inTschudi, 1845, and comparison of John K. Townsend's extant study skins (1835–36) to freshly prepared skins of Catharus ustulatus (Nuttall), C. swainsoni (Cabanis) and C. guttatus (Pallas, 1811), reveals that the original description of T. ustulatusNuttall, 1840, was most likely based on a single specimen (now lost) of Hermit Thrush C. guttatus (Pallas, 1811). The original description of T. swainsoni Cabanis inTschudi, 1845, is also not unambiguously identifiable and the type material is untraceable. To resolve and stabilise nomenclature, (1) a petition will be filed with the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) to set aside Art. 75.3.5 of the Code (ICZN 1999) so that a neotype of T. ustulatusNuttall, 1840, can be designated; and (2) the name C. swainsoni (Cabanis inTschudi, 1845) is herein rescued via neotypification. Finally, updated common names are proposed to standardise the English group name of the genus to ‘nightingale-thrush’ and reduce further confusion with respect to common names that have been applied to multiple taxa. This is the second in a series of papers concerning historical aspects of Catharus taxonomy and nomenclature.

We report the earliest record of Raiatea or Leeward Society Islands Fruit Dove Ptilinopus chrysogaster by R. P. Lesson during the La Coquille expedition in 1823 on the island of Bora Bora in the Society Islands. This antedates the previous earliest record of the species by 30 years.

The Lake Kutubu Wildlife Management Area (WMA) covers approximately 23,500 ha of freshwater lake and surrounding forest environments on the southern slopes of New Guinea's central cordillera in mainland Papua New Guinea (PNG). Ornithological work within the WMA spans more than 50 years, although most of the data are available only in the grey literature and are difficult to obtain. In light of a proposed review of PNG's protected area network, we collate bird records from the WMA and draw upon data from the nearby Agogo Range to consider the potential for additional species to occur within the gazetted area. The WMA inventory stands at 216 species, nearly one-third of all species resident or regularly occurring in the New Guinea region. The high species richness is attributable to the presence of a variety of forest and wetland habitats spanning nearly 600 m elevation, supporting bird species characteristic of lowland, hill and lower montane environments. Resident avifauna include five IUCN threatened or Near Threatened species (New Guinea Harpy Eagle Harpyopsis novaeguineae, Gurney's Eagle Aquila gurneyi, New Guinea Vulturine Parrot Psittrichas fulgidus, Striated Lorikeet Charmosyna multistriata and Banded Yellow Robin Gennaeodryas placens) and the restricted-range Greater Melampitta Megalampitta gigantea. Geographic and elevational range extensions are reported for numerous taxa, and recent data are presented to better document the distributional relationships of species pairs in the genera Talegalla, Megapodius, Micropsitta and Lonchura, and of races of Brown Cuckoo-Dove Macropygia amboinensis and Double-eyed Fig Parrot Cyclopsitta diophthalma.

I report observations on the nesting behaviour of Natewa Silktail Lamprolia klinesmithi on the Natewa Peninsula, Vanua Levu, Fiji. Field work in June–August 2018 located four nests of which two were closely monitored. Nest attentiveness was very low (42.58% and 42.05% of total observation time spent at the nest), as was provisioning rate (35.29% of nest visits with food) in part due to uniparental care but possibly also in response to nest predation and fecundity-survival trade-off by the parent. Nest site and habitat were significantly different from historical records pertaining to the closely related (previously conspecific) Taveuni Silktail L. victoriae. The close proximity of nests and presence of six individuals in the nesting area poses questions concerning the species' breeding strategy. The paucity of data surrounding the ecology of Lamprolia and the lack of formal protective legislation on the Natewa Peninsula highlight the need for research into this endemic and globally threatened species.

Details are given of four species new to the avifauna of the Central African Republic, based on specimens overlooked in American museum collections and previously unpublished: Madagascar Cuckoo Cuculus rochii, Black-necked Wattle-eye Dyaphorophyia chalybea, White-browed Scrub Robin Cercotrichas leucophrys and Grey Ground Thrush Geokichla princei.