"birds of the west indies" was a book owned by novelist ian fleming, who used the ornithologist's name for his own fictional british secret agent character, commander james bond. fleming, a keen bird watcher while living at his estate in jamaica, owned this book. he later explained that the author's name was "brief, unromantic, anglo-saxon, and yet very masculine – just what i needed." fleming once said in a "reader's digest" interview: "i wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name i could find, and 'james bond' was much better than something more interesting, like 'peregrine carruthers.' exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure — an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department." the book has since become a collector's item amongst bond fans and was featured as an homage in the twentieth james bond film, "die another day", when bond poses as an ornithologist while in cuba. the final shot of the miniseries "" is of a copy of "birds of the west indies" next to ian fleming's typewriter.