The Caatinga of northeastern Brazil is the largest nucleus of the seasonally dry tropical forest biome. Number of bird species in lists of the Caatinga often are quite different, mainly due to the existence of enclaves of other biomes embedded in this region, and whose species may or may not be included on those lists. While some consider such enclaves as disjunctions of other biomes, and therefore do not consider their species to be Caatinga-inhabitants, others consider the enclaves as part of the Caatinga and then include their species. In addition, the Caatinga has been widely used as a unit of analysis in biogeographical and macroecological studies, sometimes without a biologically meaningful delimitation. The need for a comprehensive review of these issues motivated me to propose a biologically meaningful checklist of the birds of the Caatinga and to explain why the enclaves of other biomes embedded within this region should not be considered part of the Caatinga. I argue that the previous checklists of birds, among other animals, of the Caatinga have been assembled in a biologically meaningless way, for which I provide a biologically meaningful alternative. This checklist comprises as many as 442 bird species for the Caatinga and is the first to comply with strict criteria as to its accessible, verifiable documentation.

巴西东北部的Caatinga是季节性干燥的热带森林生物群落的最大核。Caatinga列表中的鸟类种类数量通常相差很大，这主要是由于该地区存在其他生物群落的飞地，它们的物种可能包括也可能不包括在这些列表中。尽管有些人认为这些飞地是其他生物群落的分离，因此不认为它们的物种是卡廷加居民，但其他人则认为这些飞地是卡廷加的一部分，然后包括了它们的物种。此外，Caatinga已被广泛用作生物地理学和宏观生态学研究中的分析单元，有时没有生物学上的有意义的界限。对这些问题进行全面审查的必要性促使我提出了对卡廷加鸟类的生物学意义的清单，并解释了为什么不应将嵌入该地区的其他生物群落的飞地视为卡廷加的一部分。我认为，早先的卡廷加鸟类和其他动物的清单都是以生物学无意义的方式汇编的，为此，我提供了生物学上有意义的替代方法。此清单包括Caatinga的多达442种鸟类，并且是第一个对其可访问性和可验证文件均遵循严格标准的鸟类。Caatinga的所有组件都以生物学上毫无意义的方式进行组装，为此我提供了生物学上有意义的替代方案。此清单包括Caatinga的多达442种鸟类，并且是第一个对其可访问性和可验证文件均遵循严格标准的鸟类。Caatinga的所有组件都以生物学上毫无意义的方式进行组装，为此我提供了生物学上有意义的替代方案。此清单包括Caatinga的多达442种鸟类，并且是第一个对其可访问性和可验证文件均遵循严格标准的鸟类。