THE EXTINCT AVIFAUNA OF ST. HELENA ISLAND

Abstract

SUMMARYIn this paper the bird bones collected in three separate localities on St. Helena during the British Ornithologists' Union Centenary Expedition to Ascension Island are catalogued and described. At Prosperous Bay there are deposits which appear to be only a few hundred years old, containing many intact bird bones, referable to Puffinus assimilis/lherminieri, Pelagodroma marina, Sula sula, Fregata ariel, and a new rail Aphanocrex podarces. In Dry Gut, north of Bencoolen, are apparently older deposits with bones of a medium‐sized Pterodroma sp. and a humerus of Upupa epops. On Sugar Loaf Hill are extensive deposits which may be very old, containing fragmentary bones of a large Puffinus sp., of Puffinus assimilis/lherminieri, Pelagodroma marina, and at least one species of columbid.There is now evidence that thirteen species of oceanic birds have bred on St. Helena at some time (plus one—Sula leucogaster—whose status is still uncertain). Of these, only six species are now known to breed on the island, though two more may do so.The only surviving native land‐bird is Charadrius sanctae‐helenae, but at least three additional species were present in the past.