Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy 123

144 4 Ornithologist and Zoogeographer
Fig.4.3. Total of Ernst Mayr’s taxonomic and regional publications (number of pages per
year), mostly on the birds of Papua-Australasia, during the period 1927–1960. The tallest
peaks include books as follows: (1) E. Mayr and A. Rand (1937) Birds of the Archbold
Expedition (248 p.), (2) E. Mayr (1941) List of New Guinea Birds (260 p.), (3) E. Mayr
(1945) Birds of the Southwest Pacific (316 p.), (4) J. Delacour and E. Mayr (1946) Birds of the
Philippines (309 p.). Shaded–papers in the series “Birds collected during the Whitney South
Sea Expedition.”
Pacific Islands
The Whitney South Sea Expedition
Ernst Mayr’s primary task, when he arrived at the AMNH in January 1931, was
to study the collections of birds sent in by the Whitney South Sea Expedition
(WSSE) which, at that time, continued field work in the southern Pacific Ocean
and eventually developed into the longest, geographically most extensive and scientifically
one of the most important ornithological expedition ever undertaken.
Travelers were continuously in the field from 1920 until 1940 and R.C. Murphy
at the AMNH functioned as general manager, but he never joined them anywhere
during this entire period. He once got as far as California on his way to