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The checklist of the birds in Niue Island, South Pacific (19°S. 169°W.), consists of 19 species (5 sea birds, 3 shore birds, and 11 land birds). Niuean and English vernacular names have been added. Five new bird species are now recorded from Niue Island for the first time. Of the five sea bird species two (common noddy and white tern) are known to breed on the island and a third (white-tailed tropic bird) possibly breeds and three species (white-tailed tropic bird, common noddy and white tern) are common. All three shore bird species are migrants but only one (Pacific golden plover) is common. Among the land birds the presence of the migratory long-tailed cuckoo is recorded for the first time and all the remaining ten species are resident and breeding. However, only four species (banded rail, white-rumped swiftlet, Polynesian triller and Polynesian starling) are common. The affinities of this restricted avifauna with those of the neighbouring archipelagos of Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands are briefly discussed as are the abundance and the status of the birds breeding on Niue. Finally some research problems and the conservation of species that are at present endangered are briefly presented and some tentative recommendations are made.