written by ornithologist james bond, the book was first published as "a field guide to the birds of the west indies" in 1936 by the academy of natural sciences as part of the "international series". it has been reprinted several times since then, including as one of the peterson field guides series (pfg 18), a september 1, 1999, edition from houghton mifflin and a march 4, 2002 edition from collins. the book contains approximately 256 pages.