| PREFACE |
| In the polished halls of academia, degrees are everything; in the more practical real world, degrees are less important. In the school of life, it is what one actually achieves--not what one is trained to achieve--that matters most. And it is the achievers, regardless of academic qualifications, who we honour the most for their contributions to humanity. In recognition of Richard ffrench�s outstanding contributions to the arts and sciences of Trinidad and Tobago, both during his 27 years of residency (1958-1985) and afterward, we present him with this collection of studies on the country�s ornithology. Although most of the 26 papers in this monograph report data obtained exclusively from Trinidad and Tobago, one article provides extensive data from the British Virgin Islands and Barbados; the latter locality was home to Richard during 1955-1958, prior to moving to Trinidad. Two papers incorporate data from adjacent portions of Venezuela and one includes observations at sea between the Dutch West Indies and Tobago. We hope that Richard will be pleased with the diversity of subjects, the range of contributing authors (32 including eight nationals from Trinidad and Tobago) and the wealth of new knowledge on the birdlife of the Neotropics in general, and Trinidad and Tobago in particular. This monograph could not have been produced without the assistance of many individuals and organisations. We began by soliciting technical papers from colleagues who had conducted research on birds in Trinidad and Tobago. We therefore thank the authors for taking the time to write up the results of their research, in some cases decades after the research was conducted, and for their patience while waiting for the final product. To assure a high standard of quality, each paper was subjected to peer review from at least two researchers whose evaluations and constructive criticisms significantly improved each manuscript. We thank the following individuals for reviewing manuscripts (an asterisk represents more than one manuscript reviewed): John B. Agard, Wayne J. Arendt*, Peter R. Bacon*, Yasmin Baksh-Comeau, Gianfranco D. Basili, Alfredo J. Begazo, Keith L. Bildstein, Stefan Bodnar, Daniel M. Brooks*, Paul A. Buckley, R. Terry Chesser, Charles T. Collins*, Gail C. Cuffy, Alfred M. Dufty, Jr., Jack C. Eitniear*, Davis W. Finch*, Mercedes S. Foster, Martin D. Frost, Kimball L. Garrett, Michael Gochfeld*, Steven L. Hilty, Leo Joseph, Allan R. Keith*, James A. Kushlan, Miguel Lentino, Timothy D. Manolis, Curtis A. Marantz, Edward B. Massiah, Douglas B. McNair*, William L. Murphy*, Michael P. Oatham, Robert B. Payne, Richard O. Prum, Victor C. Quesnel, James V. Remsen, Robin L. Restall, Thomas S. Schulenberg, Christopher J. Sharpe, David W. Snow*, Christopher K. Starr*, F. Gary Stiles, Stuart L. Warter, David C. Wege, Graham L. White, James W. Wiley, Kevin Winker*, John L. Zimmerman and Richard L. Zusi. For financially supporting the publication of this monograph, we are grateful to the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, the Asa Wright Nature Centre, and the Center for the Study of Tropical Birds, Inc. Finally, we thank Miguel Lentino and Carlos A. Botero for assistance with translating Spanish abstracts, and Edward Rooks for his fine illustrations. Floyd E. Hayes and Stanley A. Temple |
| STUDIES IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO ORNITHOLOGY HONOURING RICHARD FFRENCH Edited by Floyd E. Hayes and Stanley A. Temple Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Occasional Paper 11, 2002 |