[Book review] Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes [and] Part II. Passeriformes

Perhaps the great appeal of paleontological studies is that they inspire visions of past worlds richer and more interesting than our own. Yet, no matter how fascinating, these fossil creatures and their environments manifest a remoteness measured by more than geological time. But what if bones tell the story of a world that ought to still exist? In their long-awaited, twin monographs describing 32 species of subfossil birds from the Hawaiian Islands and commenting on the remains of perhaps as many as 22 other species, the authors more than double in size the recent endemic avifauna for this subtropical, oceanic archipelago.