The specimens of Parulidae from the Neotropics in the collection of the Zoological Museum Amsterdam

The Parulidae form a group of little dainty birds with slender bills consisting of 126 species. The family is confined to the New World, the largest number of species and genera being found in North and Central America. Neotropical material of 35 species is represented in the collection of the Zoological Museum. Most of these are migratory, breeding in Canada and northern USA and migrating in winter to Central America, the West Indies and northern South America. A large proportion of the specimens were collected by Prof. Dr. K.H. Voous while preparing his works on the birds of the Netherlands Antilles (Voous 1955a, b, 1957). At that time, the island of Aruba belonged to the Netherlands Antilles. On 1 January 1986, Aruba became an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. So, it is indicated as Aruba in this list. Another important source of material were donations by Mr. K. de Wit, chief cook with the Royal Dutch Steamship Company, K.N.S.M., who collected the dead birds aboard the ships in which he was sailing (Roselaar 1976).