extinct bird

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Contents
Articles
Choiseul Pigeon

Great Auk

Hawaiian Rail

16

Hawaii

19

Huia

21

Kangaroo Island Emu

35

Kmao

38

Labrador Duck

40

Laughing Owl

43

Laysan Rail

48

Lord Howe Swamphen

52

New Zealand Quail

54

Passenger Pigeon

56

Seychelles Parakeet

67

Stephens Island Wren

69

References
Article Sources and Contributors

76

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

78

Article Licenses
License

80

Choiseul Pigeon

Choiseul Pigeon
Choiseul Pigeon

Conservation status

Extinct (1904) (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Columbiformes

Family:

Columbidae

Genus:

Microgoura
Rothschild, 1904

Species:

M. meeki
Binomial name
Microgoura meeki
(Rothschild, 1904)

The Choiseul Pigeon, also known as the Choiseul Crested Pigeon, (Microgoura meeki) is a presumedly extinct
pigeon which was only known on the Solomon island of Choiseul in the Pacific. This species was first described by
Walter Rothschild in 1904 and named in honour of Albert Stewart Meek. The Choiseul islanders called that species
kukuru-ni-lua which means ground pigeon. There is a painting by John Gerrard Keulemans in the American Museum
of Natural History in New York City.[1][2]

Choiseul Pigeon

Description
This species had a length of approximately 30cm, roughly the size of a
chicken. On the top of the head was a dark bluish crest similar to the
Crowned Pigeons of Papua New Guinea. The forehead and the front of
the face were black, the rest of the head was sparsely pinnate with a
reddish hue. Mantle and breast had a dark blueish colour with a brown
tinge on the lower back.
The wings and the backside were olive brown. The tail was dark brown
with a purple hue. The abdomen had a chestnut coloured tone. The
upper side of the bill was black, the lower side red. The legs were
purplish red. It is not known whether there were differences between
the sexes.

Illustration by J. G. Keulemans

Extinction

In 1904 six specimens were shot by Albert Stewart Meek, a bird

collector for Lord Walter Rothschild and brought to the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum at Tring. An egg was
also collected. He did not find the Choiseul Pigeon in Bougainville Island, but was informed of its presence on the
adjacent islands of Santa Isabel and Malaita.[3]
Because of Rothschild's financial difficulties, five skins were sold to the American Museum of Natural History. On
further expeditions in 1927 and 1929, no specimens were found. It is assumed that the Choiseul Pigeon was not only
a victim of human hunters, but also fell victim of destruction brought by non-native feral cats and dogs that were
introduced to the islands.[3]

References
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Microgoura meeki" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/ details/ 106002625). IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 16 July 2012.
[2] Greenway, J. C. (1967) Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World. Dover Publications, New York.
[3] del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (editors). (1997) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx
Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-22-9

Great Auk

Great Auk
Great Auk

Specimen no. 8 and replica egg in Kelvingrove, Glasgow

Conservation status

Extinct (1852) (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Charadriiformes

Family:

Alcidae

Genus:

Pinguinus
Bonnaterre, 1791

Species:

P. impennis
Binomial name
Pinguinus impennis
(Linnaeus, 1758)

[2][3]

Approximate range (in blue) with known breeding sites indicated by yellow marks

Synonyms

Alca impennis Linnaeus,1758

Plautus impennis Brnnich,1772
Pingouin impennis Buffon,1817
Alca borealis Forster,1817
Chenalopex impennis Vieillot,1818

Great Auk

Alca major Boie,1822

Mataeoptera impennis Gloger,1842

The Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) was a large, flightless bird of the alcid family that became extinct in the
mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included
one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean region. It bred on rocky, isolated islands with easy
access to the ocean and a plentiful food supply, a rarity in nature that provided only a few breeding sites for the auks.
When not breeding, the auks spent their time foraging in the waters of the North Atlantic, ranging as far south as
northern Spain through Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Ireland, and Great Britain.
The Great Auk was 75 to 85 centimetres (unknown operator: u'[' to unknown operator: u'[' in) tall and weighed
around 5 kilograms (lb), making it the largest member of the alcid family. It had a black back and a white belly. The
black beak was heavy and hooked with grooves on its surface. During summer, the Great Auk had a white patch over
each eye. During winter, the auk lost these patches, instead developing a white band stretching between the eyes.
The wings were only 15 centimetres (in) long, rendering the bird flightless. Instead, the auk was a powerful
swimmer, a trait that it used in hunting. Its favourite prey were fish, including Atlantic Menhaden and Capelin, and
crustaceans. Although agile in the water, it was clumsy on land. Great Auk pairs mated for life. They nested in
extremely dense and social colonies, laying one egg on bare rock. The egg was white with variable brown streaking.
Both parents incubated for about six weeks before their young hatched. The young auks left the nest site after two or
three weeks and the parents continued to care for them.
Humans had hunted the Great Auk for more than 100,000 years. It was an important part of many Native American
cultures which coexisted with the bird, both as a food source and as a symbolic item. Many Maritime Archaic people
were buried with Great Auk bones, and one was buried covered in over 200 auk beaks, which are assumed to have
been part of a cloak made of their skins. Early European explorers to the Americas used the auk as a convenient food
source or as fishing bait, reducing its numbers. The bird's down was in high demand in Europe, a factor which
largely eliminated the European populations by the mid-16th century. Scientists soon began to realize that the Great
Auk was disappearing and it became the beneficiary of many early environmental laws, but this proved not to be
enough. Its growing rarity increased interest from European museums and private collectors in obtaining skins and
eggs of the bird. On 3 July 1844, the last two confirmed specimens were killed on Eldey, off the coast of Iceland,
which also eliminated the last known breeding attempt. There are unconfirmed later reports of roaming individuals
being seen or caught. A record of a bird in 1852 is considered by some to be the last sighting of the species. The
Great Auk is mentioned in a number of novels and the scientific journal of the American Ornithologists' Union is
named The Auk in honour of this bird.

Great Auk

Taxonomy and evolution

Analysis of mtDNA sequences has confirmed morphological and
biogeographical studies suggesting that the Razorbill is the Great Auk's closest
living relative.[4] The Great Auk was also closely related to the Little Auk
(Dovekie), which underwent a radically different evolution compared to
Pinguinus. Due to its outward similarity to the Razorbill (apart from
flightlessness and size), the Great Auk was often placed in the genus Alca,
following Linnaeus.
The fossil record (especially the sister species Pinguinus alfrednewtoni) and
molecular evidence show that the three genera, while closely related, diverged
soon after their common ancestor, a bird probably similar to a stout Xantus's
Murrelet, had spread to the coasts of the Atlantic. By that time the murres, or
Atlantic guillemots, had apparently already split from the other Atlantic alcids.
Razorbill-like birds were common in the Atlantic during the Pliocene, but the
evolution of the Little Auk is sparsely documented.[4] The molecular data are
compatible with either view, but the weight of evidence suggests placing the
Stuffed Great Auk no. 44, Leipzig
Great Auk in a distinct genus.[4] Some ornithologists still feel it is more
appropriate to retain the species in the genus Alca, however.[5] The Great Auk
was not closely related to the other extinct genera of flightless alcids, Mancalla, Praemancalla, and Alcodes.[6]
Pinguinus alfrednewtoni was a larger and also flightless member of the genus Pinguinus that lived during the Early
Pliocene.[7] Known from bones found in the Yorktown Formation of the Lee Creek Mine in North Carolina, it is
believed to have split along with the Great Auk from a common ancestor. Pinguinus alfrednewtoni lived in the
western Atlantic while the Great Auk lived in the eastern Atlantic, but after the former died out after the Pliocene,
the Great Auk replaced it.[7]

Etymology
The Great Auk was one of the 4400 animal species originally described by Carolus Linnaeus in his 18th-century
work, Systema Naturae, in which it was named Alca impennis.[8] The name Alca is a Latin derivative of the
Scandinavian word for Razorbills and their relatives.[9] The species was not placed in its own genus, Pinguinus, until
1791.[10] The generic name is derived from the Spanish and Portuguese name for the species, and the specific name
impennis is from Latin and refers to the lack of flight feathers or pennae.[9]

Great Auk

The Basque name for the Great Auk is arponaz, meaning "spearbill". Its early
French name was apponatz. The Norse called the Great Auk geirfugl, which
means "spearbird". This has led to an alternative English common name for the
bird, "garefowl" or "gairfowl".[11] The Inuit name for the Great Auk was
isarukitsck, which meant "little wing".[12] The word "Penguin" first appears in
the 16th century as a synonym for "Great Auk."[13] It may be derived from the
Welsh pen gwyn "white head", although the etymology is debated. When
European explorers discovered what are today known as penguins in the
Southern Hemisphere, they noticed their similar appearance to the Great Auk and
named them after this bird, although they are not related.[14]

Only known illustration of a Great

Auk drawn from life, Ole Worm's pet
received from the Faroe Islands

Description
Standing about 75 to 85 centimetres (unknown operator: u'[' to unknown
operator: u'[' in) tall and weighing around 5 kilograms (lb) as adult birds,[15]
the flightless Great Auk was the largest of both its family and the order
Charadriiformes. The auks that lived further north averaged larger in size than
the more southerly members of the species.[6] Males and females were similar in
plumage, although there is evidence for differences in size, particularly in the bill
and femur length.[16][17][18] The back was primarily a glossy black, while the
stomach was white. The neck and legs were short, and the head and wings
small.[19] The auk appeared chubby due to a thick layer of fat necessary for
warmth.[20] During summer, the Great Auk developed a wide white eye patch
over the eye, which had a hazel or chestnut iris.[21][22] During winter the auk
molted and lost this eye patch, which was replaced with a wide white band and a
gray line of feathers which stretched from the eye to the ear.[16] During the
Summer (standing) and winter
summer, the auk's chin and throat were blackish-brown, while the inside of the
(swimming) plumage. By John
Gerrard Keulemans.
mouth was yellow.[17] During the winter, the throat became white.[16] Some
individuals had grey plumage on their flanks, but the purpose of this is
[23]
unknown.
The bill was large at 11 centimetres (in) long and curved downwards at the top;[20] the bill also had
deep white grooves in both the upper and lower mandibles, up to seven on the upper mandible and twelve on the
lower mandible in summer, though there were fewer in winter.[24][25] The wings were only 15 centimetres (in) in
length and the longest wing feathers were only 10 centimetres (in) long.[20] Its feet and short claws were black while
the webbed skin between the toes was brownish black.[25] The legs were far back on the bird's body, which gave it
powerful swimming and diving abilities.[26]
Hatchlings were gray and downy, but their exact appearance is unknown, since no skins exist today.[25] Juvenile
birds had less prominent grooves in their beaks and had mottled white and black necks,[27] while the eye spot found
in adults was not present; instead, a gray line ran through the eyes (which still had the white eye ring) to just below
the ears.[17]

Great Auk

The auk's calls included low croaking and a hoarse scream. A captive auk was observed making a gurgling noise
when anxious. It is not known what its other vocalizations were like, but it is believed that they were similar to those
of the Razorbill, only louder and deeper.[28]

Distribution and habitat

The Great Auk was found in the cold North Atlantic coastal waters
along the coasts of Canada, the northeastern United States, Norway,
Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Great Britain, France,
and northern Spain.[29] The Great Auk left the North Atlantic waters
for land only in order to breed, even roosting at sea when not
breeding.[24][30] The rookeries of the Great Auk were found from
Baffin Bay down to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, across the far northern
Atlantic, including Iceland, and in Norway and the British Isles in
Europe.[24][31][32] For their nesting colonies the Great Auks required
Stac an Armin, St. Kilda, Scotland, where the
rocky islands with sloping shorelines that provided access to the
Great Auk used to breed
seashore.[26] These were very limiting requirements and it is believed
that the Great Auk never had more than 20 breeding colonies.[26]
Additionally, the nesting sites needed to be close to rich feeding areas and be far enough from the mainland to
discourage visitation by humans and Polar Bears.[33] Only six breeding colonies are known: Papa Westray in the
Orkney Islands, St. Kilda Island off Scotland, Grimsey Island and Eldey Island near Iceland, Funk Island[34] near
Newfoundland, and the Bird Rocks (Rochers-aux-Oiseaux) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.[26] Records suggest that this
species may have bred on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.[26] By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the breeding range
of the Great Auk was restricted to Funk Island, Grimsey Island, Eldey Island, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and St. Kilda
Island.[31] Funk Island was the largest known breeding colony.[35]
The Great Auk migrated north and south away from the breeding colonies after the chicks fledged and tended to go
southward during late fall and winter.[36] It was common in the Grand Banks.[33] Its bones have been found as far
south as Florida, where it may have occurred during four isolated time periods: around 1000 BC, 1000 AD, the 15th
century, and the 17th century.[37][38] (It has been suggested, however, that some of the bones discovered in Florida
may be the result of aboriginal trading.)[36] The Great Auk typically did not go further south than Massachusetts Bay
in the winter.[36]

Ecology and behavior

The Great Auk was never observed and described by modern scientists
during its existence, and is only known from the accounts of laymen,
such as sailors, so its behaviour is therefore not well known and hard to
reconstruct. However, much can also be inferred from its close, living
relative, the Razorbill, as well as from remaining soft tissue.[39]
Great Auks walked slowly and sometimes used their wings to help
them traverse rough terrain.[27] When they did run, it was awkwardly
and with short steps in a straight line.[30] They had few natural
Great Auks by John James Audubon, from The
Birds of America
predators, mainly large marine mammals, such as the Orca, and
White-tailed Eagles.[30] Polar bears preyed on nesting colonies of the
auk.[40] This species had no innate fear of human beings, and their flightlessness and awkwardness on land

Great Auk

compounded their vulnerability. They were hunted for food, feathers, and as specimens for museums and private
collections.[1] Great Auks reacted to noises, but were rarely scared by the sight of something.[41] The auks used their
bills aggressively both in the dense nesting sites and when threatened or captured by humans.[30] These birds are
believed to have had a life span of about 20 to 25 years.[42] During the winter, the Great Auk migrated south either in
pairs or in small groups, and never with the entire nesting colony.[43]
The Great Auk was generally an excellent swimmer, using its wings to propel itself underwater.[27] While
swimming, the head was held up but the neck was drawn in.[30] This species was capable of banking, veering, and
turning underwater.[43] The Great Auk was known to dive to depths of 76 metres (ft) and it has been claimed that the
species was able to dive to depths of 1 kilometre (ft).[44] It could also hold its breath for 15 minutes, longer than a
seal.[43] The Great Auk was capable of accelerating under water, then shooting out of the water to land on a rocky
ledge above the ocean's surface.[43]

Diet
This alcid typically fed in shoaling waters which were shallower than
those frequented by other alcids,[45] although after the breeding season
they had been sighted up to 500 kilometres (mi) from land.[45] They
are believed to have fed cooperatively in flocks.[45] Their main food
was fish, usually 12 to 20 centimetres (unknown operator: u'[' to
unknown operator: u'[' in) in length and weighing 40 to 50 grams
(unknown operator: u'[' to unknown operator: u'[' oz), but
occasionally their prey was up to half the bird's own length. The bird
Great Auk eating a fish, by John Gould.
could on average dive up to 75 metres (ft) for its prey with the
maximum dive depth being estimated at 130 metres (ft); however, to
conserve energy, most dives were shallower.[45] Its ability to dive this deeply reduced competition with other alcid
species. Based on remains associated with Great Auk bones found on Funk Island and on ecological and
morphological considerations, it seems that Atlantic Menhaden and Capelin were their favored prey.[46] Other fish
suggested as potential prey include lumpsuckers, Shorthorn Sculpins, cod, crustaceans, and sand lance.[44][45] The
young of the Great Auk are believed to have eaten plankton and, possibly, fish and crustaceans regurgitated by adult
auks.[35][42]

Reproduction

Nesting ground with juveniles and

eggs, by Keulemans

Great Auks began pairing in early and mid May.[47] They are believed to have
mated for life, although some theorize that auks could have mated outside of
their pair, a trait seen in the Razorbill.[30][42] Once paired, they nested at the base
of cliffs in colonies, where they likely copulated.[20][30] Mated pairs had a social
display in which they bobbed their heads, showing off their white eye patch, bill
markings, and yellow mouth.[30] These colonies were extremely crowded and
dense, with some estimates stating that there was a nesting auk for every 1 square
metre (sqft) of land.[30] These colonies were very social.[30] When the colonies
included other species of alcid, the Great Auks were dominant due to their
size.[30]

Great Auk

Female Great Auks would lay only one egg each year, between late May and
early June, although they could lay a replacement egg if the first one was
lost.[43][47] In years when there was a shortage of food, the auk did not breed.[48]
A single egg was laid on bare ground up to 100 metres (ft) from shore.[27][49]
The egg was ovate and elongate in shape, and averaged 12.4 centimetres (in) in
length and 7.6 centimetres (in) across at the widest point.[10][40] The egg was
yellowish white to light ochre with a varying pattern of black, brown or greyish
spots and lines which often congregated on the large end.[27][50] It is believed
that the variation in the egg's streaks enabled the parents to recognize their egg in
the colony.[47] The pair took turns incubating the egg in an upright position for
the 39 to 44 days before the egg hatched, typically in June, although eggs could
be present at the colonies as late as August.[40][47]
The parents also took turns feeding their chick. According to one account, the
chick was covered with grey down.[42] The young bird took only two or three
weeks to mature enough to abandon the nest and land for the water, typically
around the middle of July.[40][47] The parents cared for their young after they
fledged, and adults would be seen swimming with their young perched on their
backs.[47] Great Auks sexually matured when they were four to seven years old.[48]

Paintings showing variation in egg

markings, as well as seasonal and
ontogenic differences in plumage,
based on museum specimens

Relationship with humans

The Great Auk is known to have been preyed upon by Neanderthals more than
100,000 years ago, as evidenced by well-cleaned bones found by their
campfires.[29] Images believed to depict the Great Auk were also carved into the
walls of the El Pinto Cave in Spain over 35,000 years ago,[51] while cave
paintings 20,000 years old have been found in France's Grotte Cosquer.[12]
Native Americans who coexisted with the Great Auk valued it as a food source
during the winter and as an important symbol. Images of the Great Auk have
been found in bone necklaces.[52] A person buried at the Maritime Archaic site at
Port au Choix, Newfoundland, dating to about 2000 BC, was found surrounded
Bones of the Great Auk uncovered
by more than 200 Great Auk beaks, which are believed to have been part of a suit
by archaeologists in an ancient
made from their skins, with the heads left attached as decoration.[53] Nearly half
kitchen midden in Caithness
of the bird bones found in graves at this site were of the Great Auk, suggesting
that it had cultural significance for the Maritime Archaic people.[54] The extinct
Beothuks of Newfoundland made pudding out of the auk's eggs.[42] The Dorset Eskimos also hunted the species,
while the Saqqaq in Greenland overhunted the species, causing a local reduction in range.[54]
Later, European sailors used the auks as a navigational beacon, as the presence of these birds signaled that the Grand
Banks of Newfoundland were near.[12]
This species is estimated to have had a maximum population in the millions.[42] The Great Auk was hunted on a
significant scale for food, eggs, and its down feathers from at least the 8th century. Prior to that, hunting by local
natives can be documented from Late Stone Age Scandinavia and eastern North America,[55] as well as from early
5th century Labrador, where the bird seems to have occurred only as a straggler.[56] Early explorers, including
Jacques Cartier and numerous ships attempting to find gold on Baffin Island, were not provisioned with food for the
journey home, and therefore used this species as both a convenient food source and bait for fishing.[57] Some of the
later vessels anchored next to a colony and ran out planks to the land. The sailors then herded hundreds of these auks
onto the ships, where they were then slaughtered.[58] Some authors have questioned whether this hunting method

Great Auk

10

actually occurred successfully.[54] Great Auk eggs were also a valued food source, as the eggs were three times the
size of a murre's and had a large yolk.[54] These sailors also introduced rats onto the islands.[50]

Extinction
The Little Ice Age may have reduced the population of the Great Auk by
exposing more of their breeding islands to predation by Polar Bears, but massive
exploitation for their down drastically reduced the population.[48] By the
mid-16th century, the nesting colonies along the European side of the Atlantic
were nearly all eliminated by humans killing this bird for its down, which was
used to make pillows.[59] In 1553, the auk received its first official protection,
and in 1794 Great Britain banned the killing of this species for its feathers.[60] In
St. John's, individuals violating a 1775 law banning hunting the Great Auk for its
feathers or eggs were publicly flogged, though hunting for use as fishing bait was
still permitted.[54] On the North American side, eider down was initially
preferred, but once the eiders were nearly driven to extinction in the 1770s, down
collectors switched to the auk at the same time that hunting for food, fishing bait,
and oil decreased.[54][61] The Great Auk had disappeared from Funk Island by
1800, and an account by Aaron Thomas of HMS Boston from 1794 described
how the bird had been systematically slaughtered until then:

Specimen no. 3 in Brussels, which

could be one of the two last birds
killed on Eldey in 1844

If you come for their Feathers you do not give yourself the trouble of killing them, but lay hold of one and
pluck the best of the Feathers. You then turn the poor Penguin adrift, with his skin half naked and torn off, to
perish at his leasure. This is not a very humane method but it is the common practize. While you abide on this
island you are in the constant practize of horrid cruelties for you not only skin them Alive, but you burn them
Alive also to cook their Bodies with. You take a kettle with you into which you put a Penguin or two, you
kindle a fire under it, and this fire is absolutely made of the unfortunate Penguins themselves. Their bodys
being oily soon produce a Flame; there is no wood on the island.[62]
With its increasing rarity, specimens of the Great Auk and its eggs became collectible and highly prized by rich
Europeans, and the loss of a large number of its eggs to collection contributed to the demise of the species. Eggers,
individuals who visited the nesting sites of the Great Auk to collect their eggs, quickly realized that the birds did not
all lay their eggs on the same day, so they could make return visits to the same breeding colony. Eggers only
collected eggs without embryos growing inside of them and typically discarded the eggs with embryos.[40]
It was on the islet of Stac an Armin, St Kilda, Scotland, in July 1840, that the last Great Auk seen in the British Isles
was caught and killed.[63] Three men from St Kilda caught a single "garefowl", noticing its little wings and the large
white spot on its head. They tied it up and kept it alive for three days, until a large storm arose. Believing that the auk
was a witch and the cause of the storm, they then killed it by beating it with a stick.[64][65] It is the only British bird
made extinct in historic times.[66]

Great Auk

11

The last colony of Great Auks lived on Geirfuglasker (the "Great Auk
Rock") off Iceland. This islet was a volcanic rock surrounded by cliffs
which made it inaccessible to humans, but in 1830 the islet submerged
after a volcanic eruption, and the birds moved to the nearby island of
Eldey, which was accessible from a single side. When the colony was
initially discovered in 1835, nearly fifty birds were present. Museums,
desiring the skins of the auk for preservation and display, quickly
began collecting birds from the colony.[67] The last pair, found
Photograph of Eldey, last refuge of the Great Auk
incubating an egg, was killed there on 3 July 1844, on request from a
merchant who wanted specimens, with Jn Brandsson and Sigurur
sleifsson strangling the adults and Ketill Ketilsson smashing the egg with his boot.[68] Great Auk specialist John
Wolley interviewed the two men who killed the last birds,[69] and sleifsson described the act as follows:
The rocks were covered with blackbirds [referring to Guillemots] and there were the Geirfugles... They
walked slowly. Jn Brandsson crept up with his arms open. The bird that Jn got went into a corner but [mine]
was going to the edge of the cliff. [I] caught it close to the edge a precipice many fathoms deep. The black
birds were flying off. I took him by the neck and he flapped his wings. He made no cry. I strangled him.[70]
A later claim of a live individual sighted in 1852 on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland has been accepted by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).[1]

Specimens
Today, 78 skins of the Great Auk remain mostly in museum
collections, along with around 75 eggs and 24 complete skeletons. All
but four of the surviving skins are in summer plumage, and only two of
these are immature. No hatchling specimens exist. Each egg and skin
has been assigned a number by specialists.[39] While thousands of
isolated bones have been collected from 19th century Funk Island to
Neolithic middens, only a small number of complete skeletons
exist.[71] Natural mummies are also known from Funk Island, and the
eyes and internal organs of the last two birds from 1844 are stored in
the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen. It is uncertain where their skins
Stuffed specimen no. 39, skeleton and replica egg
at Senckenberg Museum
are located today, however, but according to Errol Fuller, three are
suspected due to their connection to a specific dealer in Copenhagen;
the specimens in Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural
Sciences, and the one in bersee-Museum Bremen.[39]
Following the bird's extinction, remains of the Great Auk increased dramatically in value, and auctions of specimens
created intense interest in Victorian Britain, where 15 specimens are now located, the largest number of any
country.[39] A specimen was bought in 1971 by the Icelandic Museum of National History for the sum of 9000,
which placed it in the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive stuffed bird ever sold.[72] The price of its
eggs sometimes reached up to 11 times the amount earned by a skilled worker in a year.[73] The present whereabouts
of six of the eggs are unknown, and several other eggs have been accidentally destroyed. Two mounted skins were
destroyed in the 20th century, one in the Mainz Museum during the Second World War, and one in the Museo
Bocage, Lisbon, was destroyed by a fire in 1978.[39]

Great Auk

12

Cultural depictions
The Great Auk is one of the more frequently referenced extinct birds in literature. It appears in many works of
children's literature.
Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby depicts a Great Auk telling the tale of its
species' extinction.[74] (In this image [75], Kingsley's artist played with or misunderstood the words "large pair of
white spectacles", intended to mean the natural white patches on the bird's face.)
Enid Blyton's The Island of Adventure[76] features the bird's extinction, sending the protagonist on a failed search
for what he believes is a lost colony of the species.
The Great Auk is also present in a wide variety of other works of fiction.
In his short story The Harbor Master, by Robert W. Chambers, the discovery
and attempted recovery of the last known pair of Great Auks is central to the
plot (which also involves a proto-Lovecraftian element of suspense). From the
collection In Search of the Unknown, Harper and Brothers Publishers, New
York, 1904.
In his novel Ulysses, James Joyce mentions the bird while the novel's main
character is drifting into sleep. He associates the Great Auk with the mythical
roc bird as a method of formally returning the main character to a sleepy land
of fantasy and memory.[77]
Penguin Island, a 1908 French satirical novel by the Nobel Prize winning
author Anatole France, narrates the fictional history of a Great Auk population
that is mistakenly baptized by a nearsighted missionary.[78]

Statue of a Great Auk.

A Great Auk is collected by fictional naturalist Stephen Maturin in the Patrick O'Brian historical novel The
Surgeon's Mate. This work also details the harvesting of a colony of auks.[79]
The Great Auk is the subject of a novel, The Last Great Auk by Allen Eckert, which tells of the events leading to
the extinction of the Great Auk as seen from the perspective of the last one alive.
The bird also appears in Farley Mowat's Sea of Slaughter.[80]
It is the subject of a ballet, Still Life at the Penguin Caf,[81] and a song, 'A Dream too Far', in the ecological
musical Rockford's Rock Opera.[82]
A Great Auk appears as a prized possession of Baba the Turk in Igor Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress
(libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman).
The Great Auk is the mascot of the Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware, Sir Sandford Fleming College in
Ontario, and the Adelaide University Choral Society (AUCS) in Australia.[83][84][85]
It is also the mascot of the Knowledge Masters educational competition.[86][87]
The scientific journal of the American Ornithologists' Union is named The Auk in honour of this bird.[73]
According to Homer Hickam's memoir, Rocket Boys, and its movie production, October Sky, the early rockets he
and his friends built were ironically named "Auk".[88]
A cigarette company, the British Great Auk Cigarettes, was named after this bird.[73]
Walton Ford, the American painter, has featured Great Auks in two paintings: "The Witch of St. Kilda" and
"Funk Island".[89]
The English painter and writer Errol Fuller produced "Last Stand" for his monograph on the species.[90] The Great
Auk also appeared on one stamp in a set of five depicting extinct birds issued by Cuba in 1974.[91]

Great Auk

References
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Pinguinus impennis" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/ details/ 106003305). IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 16 July 2012.
[2] Grieve, Symington (1885). The Great Auk, or Garefowl: Its history, archaeology, and remains (http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/
cihm_06624). Thomas C. Jack, London. .
[3] Parkin, Thomas (1894). The Great Auk, or Garefowl (http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/ cu31924000574222). J.E. Budd, Printer. . Retrieved
2010-05-14.
[4] Moum, Truls; Arnason, Ulfur & rnason, Einar (2002). "Mitochondrial DNA sequence evolution and phylogeny of the Atlantic Alcidae,
including the extinct Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / mbe. oxfordjournals. org/ cgi/ reprint/ 19/ 9/ 1434. pdf). Molecular Biology
and Evolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 19 (9): 14341439. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a004206. PMID12200471. .
Retrieved 2009-05-08.
[5] Fuller, Errol (1999). The Great Auk (illustrated ed.). Southborough, Kent, UK: Privately Published. p.401. ISBN0-9533553-0-6.
[6] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Systematics-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/
species/ 260/ articles/ systematics). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29.
[7] Olson, Storrs L.; Pamela C. Rasmussen (2001). "Miocene and Pliocene Birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina" (http:/ / si-pddr. si.
edu/ dspace/ handle/ 10088/ 2006). In Ray, Clayton E.. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 90. Washington DC: Smithsonian
Institution Press. p.279. .
[8] Linnaeus, C (1758) (in Latin). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus,
differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.. Holmiae: Laurentii Salvii. p.130.
[9] Johnsgard, Paul A. (1987). Diving Birds of North America (http:/ / digitalcommons. unl. edu/ cgi/ viewcontent. cgi?article=1011&
context=bioscidivingbirds). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. pp.265266. ISBN0-8032-2566-0. . Retrieved 11 May 2010.
[10] Gaskell, Jeremy (2000). Who Killed the Great Auk? (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=tsUzeXV_7jcC& pg=PA152& lpg=PA152& dq=egg+
"Great+ Auk"). Oxford University Press (USA). p.152. ISBN0-19-856478-3. .
[11] Cokinos 2000, p. 333
[12] Cokinos 2000, p. 314
[13] "PINGOUIN : Etymologie de PINGOUIN" (http:/ / www. cnrtl. fr/ etymologie/ pingouin). Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et
Lexicales. . Retrieved 2010-01-25.
[14] Crofford 1989, p. 10
[15] Livezey, Bradley C. (1988). "Morphometrics of flightlessness in the Alcidae" (http:/ / sora. unm. edu/ sites/ default/ files/ journals/ auk/
v105n04/ p0681-p0698. pdf). The Auk (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press) 105 (4): 681698. . Retrieved 2009-05-08.
[16] Crofford 1989, p. 8
[17] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Characteristics-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/
species/ 260/ articles/ characteristics). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29.

(subscription required)
[18] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Measurements-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/
species/ 260/ articles/ measurements). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29.
[19] Crofford 1989, p. 15
[20] Crofford 1989, p. 28
[21] Crofford 1989, p. 9
[22] Cokinos 2000, p. 310
[23] Rothschild, Walter (1907). Extinct Birds (http:/ / www. archive. org/ download/ extinctbirdsatte00roth/ extinctbirdsatte00roth. pdf). London:
Hutchinson & Co. .
[24] Crofford 1989, p. 29
[25] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Appearance-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/
species/ 260/ articles/ appearance). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29. (subscription

required)
[26] Cokinos 2000, p. 312
[27] Morris, Reverend Francis O. (1864). A History of British Birds (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=GEkDAAAAQAAJ& pg=PA58). 6.
Groombridge and Sons, Paternoster Way, London. pp.5658. .
[28] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Sounds-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/ species/
260/ articles/ sounds). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-28.
[29] Crofford 1989, p. 5
[30] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Behavior-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/ species/
260/ articles/ behavior). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-28. (subscription required)
[31] Crofford 1989, p. 30
[32] Meldegaard, Morten (1988). "The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis (L.) in Greenland" (http:/ / www. tandf. co. uk/ journals/ pdf/
ghbi_01_01_02. pdf). Historical Biology 1 (2): 145178. doi:10.1080/08912968809386472. . Retrieved 11 May 2010.

13

Great Auk
[33] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Habitat-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/ species/
260/ articles/ habitat). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29. (subscription required)
[34] Milne, John. "Relics of the Great Auk on Funk Island," The Field, 27 March 3 April, 10, 1875.
[35] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/ species/ 260/
articles/ introduction). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-28.
[36] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Migration-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/ species/
260/ articles/ migration). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29.
[37] Weigel, Penelope Hermes (1958). "Great Auk Remains from a Florida Shell Midden" (http:/ / sora. unm. edu/ sites/ default/ files/ journals/
auk/ v075n02/ p0215-p0216. pdf). Auk (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press) 75 (2): 215216. doi:10.2307/4081895. . Retrieved
2009-05-08.
[38] Brodkorb, Pierce (1960). "Great Auk and Common Murre from a Florida Midden" (http:/ / sora. unm. edu/ sites/ default/ files/ journals/ auk/
v077n03/ p0342-p0343. pdf). Auk (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press) 77 (3): 342343. doi:10.2307/4082490. . Retrieved
2009-05-08.
[39] Fuller, Errol (1999). The Great Auk. ISBN 0-9533553-0-6
[40] Crofford 1989, p. 35
[41] Cokinos 2000, p. 315
[42] Cokinos 2000, p. 313
[43] Crofford 1989, p. 32
[44] Cokinos 2000, p. 311
[45] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Food Habits-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/
species/ 260/ articles/ foodhabits). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29. (subscription

required)
[46] Olson, Storrs L; Swift, Camm C. & Mokhiber, Carmine (1979). "An attempt to determine the prey of the Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)".
The Auk 96 (4): 790792. JSTOR4085666.
[47] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Breeding-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/ species/
260/ articles/ breeding). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29. (subscription required)
[48] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Demography-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/
species/ 260/ articles/ demography). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29.
[49] Crofford 1989, p. 33
[50] "Great Auk egg" (http:/ / www. museums. norfolk. gov. uk/ default. asp?Document=300. 40. 20& Image=577& gst=). Norfolk Museums &
Archaeology Service. . Retrieved 2009-05-08.
[51] Crofford 1989, p. 6
[52] Crofford 1989, p. 36
[53] Tuck, James A. (1976). "Ancient peoples of Port au Choix: The excavation of an Archaic Indian cemetery in Newfoundland". Newfoundland
Social and Economic Studies (St. John's: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial U of Newfoundland) 17: 261.
[54] Montevecchi, William A.; David A. Kirk (1996). "Conservation-Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)" (http:/ / bna. birds. cornell. edu/ bna/
species/ 260/ articles/ conservation). The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. . Retrieved 2010-04-29. (subscription

required)
[55] Greenway, James C. (1967). Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World, 2nd Edition. New York: Dover Publications. pp.271291.
ISBN978-0-486-21869-4.
[56] Jordan, Richard H; Storrs L. Olson (1982). "First record of the Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) from Labrador" (http:/ / sora. unm. edu/
sites/ default/ files/ journals/ auk/ v099n01/ p0167-p0168. pdf). The Auk (University of California Press) 99 (1): 167168.
doi:10.2307/4086034. . Retrieved 2010-04-28.
[57] Crofford 1989, p. 38
[58] Crofford 1989, p. 39
[59] Crofford 1989, p. 40
[60] Cokinos 2000, p. 330
[61] Cokinos 2000, p. 329
[62] Aaron Thomas, 1794, in Murray, 1968
[63] Rackwitz, Martin (2007). Travels to Terra Incognita: The Scottish Highlands and Hebrides in Early Modern Travellers' Accounts C. 1600
to 1800. Waxmann Verlag. p.347. ISBN978-3-8309-1699-4.
[64] Gaskell, Jeremy (2000). Who Killed the Great Auk? (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=tsUzeXV_7jcC). Oxford UP. p.142.
ISBN978-0-19-856478-2. .
[65] Fuller, Errol (2003). The Great Auk: The Extinction of the Original Penguin (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=35rGM50pAoAC). Bunker
Hill Publishing. p.34. ISBN978-1-59373-003-1. .
[66] Bourne, W. R. P. (1993). "The story of the Great AukPinguinis impennis". Archives of Natural History 20 (2): 257278.
doi:10.3366/anh.1993.20.2.257.
[67] Crofford 1989, p. 43
[68] Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perennial. p.160. ISBN0-06-055804-0.

14

Great Auk
[69] Newton, Alfred (1861). "Abstract of Mr. J. Wolley's Researches in Iceland respecting the Gare-fowl or Great Auk (Alea impennis, Linn.)".
Ibis 3 (4): 374399. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1861.tb08857.x.
[70] John Wolley: 'Garefowl Books', University Library, Cambridge
[71] Luther, Dieter (1996) (in German). Die ausgestorbenen Vgel der Welt. Die neue Brehm-Bcherei 424 (4 ed.). Heidelberg:
Westarp-Wissenschaften. pp.7884. ISBN3-89432-213-6.
[72] Guinness Book of Records 1972
[73] Cokinos 2000, p. 331
[74] Kingsley, Charles (1995). The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-282238-1.
[75] http:/ / www. childrensnursery. org. uk/ water-babies/ water-babys%20-%200094-1. jpg
[76] Blyton, Enid (1944). The Island of Adventure. London: Macmillan.
[77] Joyce, James (2007). Ulysses (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=Dq2CgT4tIlsC& dq=Ulysses& printsec=frontcover& q). Charleston, SC:
BiblioLife. p.682. ISBN978-1-4346-0387-6. .
[78] France, Anatole. Penguin Island (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ files/ 1930/ 1930-h/ 1930-h. htm). Project Gutenberg. . Retrieved 28 April
2010.
[79] O'Brian, Patrick (1981). The Surgeon's Mate (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=idKmOKXDoUIC& pg=PA84& lpg=PA84& dq=The+
Surgeon's+ Mate+ Great+ Auk& q). New York: W.W. Norton and Company. pp.8485. ISBN0-393-30820-0. .
[80] Mowat, Farley (1986). Sea of Slaughter. New York: Bantam Books. p.18. ISBN0-553-34269-X.
[81] Jeffes, Simon (2002). 'Still Life' at the Penguin Cafe. London: Peters Edition Ltd. ISBN0-9542720-0-5.
[82] "Durka-The Great Auk" (http:/ / www. rockfordsrockopera. com/ characters/ other-characters-info. asp?id2=2). Rockford's Rock Opera.
2010. . Retrieved 10 May 2010.
[83] "Auk News" (http:/ / www. archmereacademy. com/ Default. aspx?tabid=1045). Archmere Academy. 26 April 2010. . Retrieved 28 April
2010.
[84] "Fleming College Auk's Lodge Student Association" (http:/ / www. flemingsa. com/ index. php). Fleming College Auk's Lodge Student
Association. 15 April 2010. . Retrieved 28 April 2010.
[85] Holzknecht, Karin (2005). "O'Sqweek 2005" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20080719054354/ http:/ / www. aucs. org. au/ web/ system/
files/ 2005. 02skweek. pdf). Adelaide University Choral Society. p.1. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. aucs. org. au/ web/ system/
files/ 2005. 02skweek. pdf) on 19 July 2008. . Retrieved 28 April 2010.
[86] http:/ / www. greatauk. com/ KMO. html
[87] Schettle, Liz (17 December 2004). "Competition summons inner intellect" (http:/ / www. the-index. org/ cgi-bin/ story.
php?story=1014quizbowlkmo). The Oshkosh West Index. . Retrieved 29 April 2010.
[88] Hickam, Homer (2006). "Books- Rocket Boys/October Sky" (http:/ / www. homerhickam. com/ books/ rb. shtml). Homer Hickam Online. .
Retrieved 29 April 2010.
[89] Ford, Walton (2009). Pancha Tantra (illustrated ed.). Los Angeles: Taschen America LLC. ISBN3-8228-5237-6.
[90] Fuller, Errol (1999). The Great Auk (illustrated ed.). Southborough, Kent, UK: Privately Published. ISBN0-9533553-0-6.
[91] Burns, Phillip (6 July 2003). "Dodo Stamps" (http:/ / www. pibburns. com/ cryptost/ dodo. htm). Pib's Home on the Web. . Retrieved 28
April 2010.

Cited texts
Cokinos, Christopher (2000). Hope is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds. New
York: Warner Books. ISBN0-446-67749-3.
Crofford, Emily (1989). Gone Forever: The Great Auk. New York: Crestwood House. ISBN0-89686-459-6.
Fuller, Errol (1999). The Great Auk. Southborough, Kent, UK: Privately Published. ISBN0-9533553-0-6.

External links
"

The Home of the Great Auk" Popular Science Monthly Volume 33 Wikisource August 1888 ISSN0161-7370

" Auk Egg Auction (http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,882308,00.html)," Time

Magazine, 26 November 1934.
Great Auk: Audubon fact sheet (http://www.audubon.org/bird/BoA/F44_G2a.html)
3D view (http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=60) of specimen RMNH 110.104 at Naturalis,
Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin)

15

Hawaiian Rail

16

Hawaiian Rail
Hawaiian Rail

Light and dark form

Conservation status

Extinct (c.1890) (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Gruiformes

Family:

Rallidae

Genus:

Porzana

Species:

P. sandwichensis
Binomial name
Porzana sandwichensis
(Gmelin, 1789)
Synonyms

see text
The Hawaiian Rail (Porzana sandwichensis), Hawaiian Spotted Rail, or Hawaiian Crake was a somewhat
enigmatic species of diminutive rail that lived on Big Island of Hawaii, but is now extinct. It was a flightless bird
that was apparently found in shrubland and secondary growth on abandoned fields and in times of danger had the
habit of hiding in Polynesian Rat burrows. Specimens are known or assumed to be from an area which roughly
corresponds to the middle elevations of today's Puna district around the present settlement of Mountain View, below
the primary rainforest. A dark form and a lighter, spotted one are known (see below).
The first collections were of individuals of the lighter form, of which today 5 specimens seem to exist: in the
Naturalis in Leiden (one: RMNH 87450), in the American Museum of Natural History and New York City (1)). Of
the dark form, several additional individuals are present in collections in Cambridge (Museum of Natural History, 1),
London (Natural History Museum, 1), Vienna, New York City (1) and Honolulu (Bishop Museum, 2). One 1778
painting by William Ellis (plate 70) depicts a light bird, possibly the Leiden specimen (which was apparently
collected in late January/early February, 1779), and in more recent times, subfossil bones have also been recovered.

Hawaiian Rail

17

The native name for the bird was apparently moho, said to refer to a small "bird that crows in the grass". The name
iao or iao was claimed to refer to a moho-like but smaller bird; it is not clear whether this bird was the distinctive
lighter form or the extinct unnamed small rail (see below). The bird is referenced in the old Hawaiian proverb Aohe
mea nna e hoopuhili, he moho no ka l makani which means roughly "nothing can blow him off course, he is like a
moho in the wind"; it was used to indicate admiration for an undaunted or determined person (as the bird was unable
to fly, it was not affected by the wind). This is not to be confused with the taxonomical name Moho, which are the
; also from Hawaii, also extinct, but completely unrelated birds.

Systematics
Considerable confusion has been created by the existence of two
distinct forms. While it cannot be completely excluded that early
specimens were collected on another island, only Oahu and Kauai
seem possible given the history of the specimens' collection, and only
on the latter island is a similar-sized species now known to have once
existed. However, the bones from Kauai are in the upper size range of
those found of sandwichensis, while the specimens of the lighter form
are all of smaller birds.
On the Big Island, a smaller species of Porzana is now known from
subfossil bones found on the southwestern slope of Mauna Kea, but
Illustration by F.W. Frohawk.
this bird was only the size of a Laysan Crake; it may have been the bird
named iao or iao, which would place its extinction at a relatively
recent date. In addition, there are some bones of a third species, approximately 15% larger than P. sandwichensis,
found near Kailua-Kona.
The generally accepted theory is that the lighter birds represent immatures, and certainly only such specimens have
been described as young birds (the Hanover specimen is labeled as "juvenile"), but since the exact collection
localities are not known with sufficient detail, only DNA analysis could resolve this question, particularly since the
recovered bone material can also be expected to yield analyzable DNA fragments.
At any rate, both light and dark birds are today treated as a single species, the junior synonyms of which are as
follows:

Rallus sandwichensis Gmelin, 1789

Rallus obscurus Gmelin, 1789
Pennula millei (lapsus) Dole, 1878
Pennula millsi
Pennula wilsoni Finsch, 1898
Pennula ecaudata King

The last 5 names refer to the dark form. However, Rallus obscurus is something of a mystery as it is generally
assumed that at the time of Gmelin's writing, the species was only known from light birds (which were described as
sandwichensis on the preceding page of Gmelin's work), but he seems to have seen a specimen of his obscurus at the
Leverian Museum (Stresemann, 1950).

Hawaiian Rail

18

Extinction
Specimens of the light form were collected in 1778 on the third Cook expedition; the dark form was supposedly not
found at that time (but see above). Apparently, all or at least most specimens of the latter were procured over a short
period around 1860 by James D. Mills, the last one in 1864. The last reliable sight record was in 1884, with a
doubtful one in 1893; a dedicated search in 1887 failed to find the bird, but as it was rather cryptic, this cannot be
taken as unequivocal proof that it was completely extinct by then.
As neither the Small Asian Mongoose nor mosquitoes (which transmit
fowlpox and avian malaria, both exceptionally lethal to Hawaiian
endemic birds) were present on Big Island until 1883 and the 1890s,
respectively, this species' extinction was probably caused by
introduced European rats, cats and possibly dogs. Hunting, sometimes
assumed to have played a major part, probably was not significant as
the bird was protected by a kapu which prohibited hunting except by
alii until 1819. After that, the few specimens that were collected
suggest it was not extensively hunted even after the kapu were
abolished.

Specimen painted by William Ellis while

accompanying Captain James Cook on his third
voyage (177678)

References
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Porzana sandwichensis" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/ details/ 106002908). IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 16 July 2012.

Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789): [Description of Porzana sandwichensis]. In: Systema Naturae per regna tria
naturae secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (13th ed.) 1,
part II: 717. Georg Emanuel Beer, Lipsiae [Leipzig]
Stresemann, Erwin (1950): Birds collected during Capt. James Cook's Last Expedition. Auk 67(1): 6688. PDF
fulltext (http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v067n01/p0066-p0088.pdf)

External links
3D view (http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=15) of specimen RMNH 87450 at the Naturalis,
Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin)
Natural History Museum (http://owen.nhm.ac.uk/piclib/www/image.php?img=51205): William Ellis' plate
70

Hawaii

19

Hawaii
Hawaii

Conservation status

Extinct (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Passeriformes

Suborder:

Passeri

Infraorder:

Passerida

Family:

Mohoidae

Genus:

Moho

Species:

M. nobilis
Binomial name
Moho nobilis
Merrem, 1786

The Hawaii (Moho nobilis) is a member of the extinct genus of the s (Moho) within the extinct family
Mohoidae. It was previously regarded as member of the Australo-Pacific honeyeaters (Meliphagidae).[2]

Hawaii

20

Description
The 'Hawaii was first described by Blasius Merrem in 1786. It
had an overall length of 32 centimetres (in), wing length of 1111.5
centimetres
(unknown
operator:
u'['unknown
operator:
u'['unknown operator: u'['unknown operator: u'['), and tail length
of up to 19 centimetres (in). The colour of its plumage was glossy
black with a brown shading at the belly. It was further characterized by
yellowish tufts at the axillaries. It had some yellowish plumes on its
rump, but lacked yellow thigh feathers like the Bishop's , and also
lacked the whitish edgings on its tail feathers like the Oahu .
However it had the largest yellow plumes on its wings out of all the
species of .

Extinction
At the time of discovery by Europeans, it was still relatively common
on the Big Island, but that was soon to change. The Hawaii was
Illustration by William Ellis
extensively hunted by Native Hawaiians. Its striking plumage was used
for aahu alii (robes) and ahu ula (capes) of alii (Hawaiian
nobility). The Europeans too saw the striking beauty of this bird and hunted many of them for specimens in personal
collections. Some were even caught and were put in cages to be sold as song birds only to live for a few weeks or
days before diseases from mosquitoes had befallen them. The decline of this bird was hastened by both natives and
Europeans by the introduction of the musket which allowed hunter and collectors to shoot birds down from far away
places and from great heights and numbers. As late as 1898, hunters were still able to kill over a thousand of the
birds, but after that year the population declined rapidly.[3] The birds became too rare to be shot in any great
quantities, but continued to be found for nearly 30 years. The last known sighting was in 1934 on the slopes of
Mauna Loa.

References
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Moho nobilis" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/ details/ 106005358). IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 16 July 2012.
[2] Fleischer, Robert C.; Helen F. James; Storrs L. Olson (2008-12-11). "Convergent Evolution of Hawaiian and Australo-Pacific Honeyeaters
from Distant Songbird Ancestors". Current Biology (Cell Press) 18 (24): 19271931. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.10.051. PMID19084408.
[3] Henshaw, HW (1902) Birds of the Hawaiian Islands (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=tn4aAAAAYAAJ& ots=XofwEMGYxH&
pg=PA71), p. 71.

External links
3D view (http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=26) of specimens RMNH 110.044 and RMNH
110.045 (formerly RMNH 2142) at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).

Huia

21

Huia
Huia

A pair (male in front of female)

Painting by J.G. Keulemans from W.L. Buller's A History of the Birds of New Zealand (1888)

Conservation status

Extinct (1907) (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Passeriformes

Family:

Callaeidae

Genus:

Heteralocha
Cabanis, 1851

Species:

H. acutirostris
Binomial name
Heteralocha acutirostris
(Gould, 1837)

Huia

22

Light green: original range

Dark green stripes: 1840 range
Red: site of 1907 last confirmed sighting
Yellow: sites of later unconfirmed sightings

Synonyms
Neomorpha acutirostris (female)
Neomorpha crassirostris (male)
Heteralocha gouldi
The Huia (Mori:[hia]; Heteralocha acutirostris) was the largest species of New Zealand wattlebird, endemic to
the North Island of New Zealand. Its extinction in the early 20thcentury had two primary causes. The first was
rampant overhunting to procure Huia skins for mounted specimens, which were in worldwide demand by museums
and wealthy private collectors. Huia were also hunted to obtain their long, striking tail feathers for locally
fashionable hat decorations. The second major cause of extinction was the widespread deforestation of the lowlands
of the North Island by European settlers to create pasture for agriculture. Most of these forests were ancient,
ecologically complex primary forests, and Huia were unable to survive in regenerating secondary forests. The last
confirmed sighting of a Huia was on 28 December 1907 in the Tararua Ranges. Further credible sightings near
Wellington were reported until 1922, and in Te Urewera National Park in the early 1960s.
The Huia belonged to a family found only in New Zealand, a family so ancient that no relation is found elsewhere.
Before the arrival of Europeans it was already a rare bird, confined to the Ruahine, Tararua, Rimutaka and
Kaimanawa mountain ranges in the south east of the North Island. It was remarkable for having the most pronounced
sexual dimorphism in bill shape of any bird species in the world. The female's beak was long, thin and arched
downward, while the male's was short and stout, like that of a crow. The sexes were otherwise similar, with orange
wattles and predominantly black plumage with a green sheen. The birds lived in forests at both montane and lowland
altitudes they are thought to have moved seasonally, living at higher altitude in summer and descending to lower
altitudes in winter. Huia were omnivorous and ate insects, grubs and spiders, as well as the fruits of a small number
of native plants. Males and females used their beaks to feed in different ways: the male used his bill to chisel away at
rotting wood, while the female's longer, more flexible bill was able to probe deeper areas. Even though the Huia is
frequently mentioned in biology and ornithology textbooks because of this striking dimorphism, not much is known
about its biology; it was little studied before it was driven to extinction. The Huia is one of New Zealand's
best-known extinct birds because of its bill shape, its sheer beauty and special place in Mori culture and oral
tradition. The bird was regarded by Mori as tapu (sacred), and the wearing of its skin or feathers was reserved for
people of high status. The Huia was a bird of deep metallic, bluish-black plumage with a greenish iridescence on the
upper surface, especially about the head. The tail feathers were unique among endemic birds in having a broad white

Huia

23
band across the tips.

Taxonomy and etymology

The genus name, Heteralocha, derives from Ancient Greek
"different" and "wife".[2] It refers to the striking difference in
bill shape between male and female. The specific name, acutirostris,
derives from Latin acutus, meaning "sharp pointed", and rostrum,
meaning "beak", and refers to the beak of the female.[3]
John Gould described the Huia in 1836 as two species: Neomorpha
acutirostris based on a female specimen, and N. crassirostris based on
a male specimenthe epithet crassirostris derives from the Latin
Taxidermy exhibit of a pair at Museum fr
Naturkunde, Germany
crassus, meaning "thick" or "heavy", and refers to the male's short
bill.[3] In 1840, George Robert Gray proposed the name N. gouldii,
arguing that neither of Gould's names was applicable to the species.[4] In 1850, Jean Cabanis replaced the name
Neomorpha, which had been previously used for a cuckoo genus, with Heteralocha.[2] In 1888 Sir Walter Buller
wrote: "I have deemed it more in accordance with the accepted rules of zoological nomenclature to adopt the first of
the two names applied to the species by Mr Gould; and the name Neomorpha having been previously used in
ornithology, it becomes necessary to adopt that of Heteralocha, proposed by Dr Cabanis for this form."[5]
The Huia appears to be a remnant of an early expansion of passerines in the country of New Zealand, and is the
largest of the three members of the family Callaeidae, the New Zealand wattlebirds; the others are the saddleback
and the kkako. The only close relative to the family is the stitchbird; their taxonomic relationships to other birds
remain to be determined.[6] A molecular study of the nuclear RAG-1 and c-mos genes of the three species within the
family proved inconclusive, the data providing most support for either a basally diverging kokako or Huia.[7]

Description
The Huia had black plumage with a green metallic tinge[8] and
distinctive rounded bright orange wattles at the gape. In both sexes, the
eyes were brown;[9] the beak was ivory white, greyish at the base; the
legs and feet were long and bluish grey while the claws were light
brown.[10] Huia had twelve[11] long glossy black tail feathers, each
tipped for 2.53cm (11.2in)[10] with a broad band of white.[12][13]
Immature Huia had small pale wattles, duller plumage flecked with
brown, and a reddish-buff tinge to the white tips of the tail feathers.[9]
The beak of the young female was only slightly curved.[10] Mori
Painting by J.G. Keulemans of a female, a male,
referred to certain Huia as huia-ariki, "chiefly huia". The huia-ariki
and an albinistic female
had brownish plumage streaked with grey,[14][15] and the feathers on
[8][15]
the neck and head were darker.
This variant may have been a partial albino, or perhaps such birds were simply
of great age. Several true albino Huia were recorded.[15][16]
Although sexual dimorphism in bill shape is found in other birds, such as the riflebirds, sicklebills and other
wood-excavating birds including some species of woodpecker,[17] it was most pronounced in the Huia.[18] The beak
of the male was short at approximately 60mm (2.3in) and slightly arched downwards[8] and robust, very similar to
that of the closely related saddleback, while the female's beak was finer, longer at around 104mm (4in), and
decurved (curved downward) like that of a hummingbird or honeyeater. The difference was not only in the bone; the
rhamphotheca grew way past the end of the bony maxilla and mandible to produce a pliable implement able to
deeply penetrate holes made by wood-boring beetle larvae. The skulls and mandibles of the Huia and saddleback are

Huia

24
very similar, the latter essentially miniatures of the former.[19]
There are two possible explanations for the evolution of this sexual difference in
bill shape. The most widely supported is that it allowed birds of different sexes to
utilise different food sources.[17] This divergence may have arisen because of a
lack of competitors in these foraging niches in the North Island forest
ecosystems.[20] The other idea is that the ivory-coloured bill, which contrasted
sharply with the bird's black plumage, may have been used to attract a mate. In
animals that use sexually dimorphic physical traits to attract a mate, the
dimorphic feature is often brightly coloured or contrasts with the rest of the body,
as with the Huia.[17] It has been suggested that as the female was the main
provider of food for the chicks by regurgitation, this sex evolved the longer bill
to obtain the protein-rich invertebrate diet required for the chicks.[17]
Another, less obvious aspect of the Huia's sexual dimorphism was the minor size
difference between the sexes. Males were 45cm (18in) long, while females were
larger at 48cm (19in).[13] Additionally, the tail of the male was about 20cm
(7.8in) in length and the wingspan was between 21 and 22cm (8.28.6in),
while the female's tail was 19.5 to 20cm (7.67.8in) and the female's wingspan
was 20 to 20.5cm (7.88in).[9]

The skull had hollows, digastric

fossae, accommodating the strong
muscles that open the bill

Distribution and habitat

Subfossil deposits and midden remains suggest that the Huia was once widespread in both lowland and montane
native forest throughout the North Island,[13] extending from the northernmost tip at Cape Reinga[21] to Wellington
and the Aorangi Range in the far south. Only a few Huia are known from the extensive pitfall deposits in the karst of
the Waitomo caves area and they are also rare or absent in fossil deposits in the central North Island and Hawke's
Bay; it seems to have preferred habitats that are not well sampled by the deposits known at present.[21] Its range
appears to have contracted following Mori settlement in the middle 12th century. By the time of European
settlement in the 1840s, the bird was found only in the forests of the southern North Island, south of a line from the
Raukumara Range in the east, across the Kaimanawa Range, to the Turakina River in the Rangitikei in the west.[13]
In the south, its range extended to the Wairarapa and the Rimutaka Range east of Wellington.[13] Reports collected
by Walter Buller and a single waiata (Mori song) suggest that the Huia was once also found in the Marlborough
and Nelson districts of the South Island; however, it has never been identified in the rich fossil deposits south of
Cook Strait,[22] and there is no other evidence of the species' presence.[3][15]
The Huia inhabited both of the two principal forest types in New Zealand. They were primarily found in
broadleaf-podocarp forests where there was a dense understorey, but occasionally also in Southern Beech
(Nothofagus) forest. The species was observed in native vegetation including Mata (Prumnopitys taxifolia), Rimu
(Dacrydium cupressinum), Kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), Northern Rt (Metrosideros robusta), Maire
(Nestegis), Hinau (Elaeocarpus dentatus), Totara (Podocarpus totara), Rewarewa (Knightia excelsa), Mahoe
(Melicytus ramiflorus), and Taraire (Beilschmiedia tarairi), and at sea level in Karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus)
trees at Cape Turakirae. It was never seen in burnt forest or land cleared for farming.[3]

Huia

25

Ecology and behaviour

Movements
The Huia's movements are little known, but it was most likely
sedentary.[20] The Huia is thought to have undertaken seasonal
movements, living in montane forests in the summer and moving down
into lowland forests in the winter to avoid the harsher weather and cold
temperatures of higher altitudes.[20] Like the surviving New Zealand
wattlebirds, the saddleback and the kkako, the Huia was a weak flier
and could only fly for short distances, and seldom above tree height.[20]
More often it would use its powerful legs to propel it in long leaps and
bounds through the canopy or across the forest floor,[13] or cling
vertically to tree trunks with its tail spread for balance.[12]

Feeding and ecology

Mounted female Huia taxidermy specimen

illustrating its well-developed long legs and its
long downward curved beak

The Huia, with the previously endangered saddleback, were the two species of classic bark and wood probers in the
arboreal insectivore guild in the New Zealand avifauna. Woodpeckers do not occur east of Wallace's line; their
ecological niche is filled by other groups of birds that feed on wood-boring beetle larvae, albeit in rotting wood. The
woodpecker-like role was taken on by two species in two different families in the New Zealand mixed-podocarp and
Nothofagus forests; one was the Huia and the other was the kaka.[23]
The Huia foraged mainly on decaying wood.[20] Although it was
considered a specialist predator of the larvae of the nocturnal huhu
beetle (Prionoplus reticularis), it also ate other insectsincluding
wetainsect larvae, spiders, and fruit.[13][20]
Insects and spiders were taken from decaying wood, from under bark,
mosses and lichens, and from the ground. Huia foraged either alone, in
pairs, or in small flocks of up to five, which were probably family
groups.[16] The sexual dimorphism of the bill structure gave rise to
feeding strategies that differed radically between the sexes. The male
A favourite food of the Huia: the larvae of the
used its adze-like bill to chisel and rip into the outer layers of decaying
huhu beetle, Prionoplus reticularis
wood,[23] while the female probed areas inaccessible to the male, such
as the burrows of insect larvae in living wood. The male had well-developed cranial musculature allowing rotten
wood to be chiselled and pried apart by "gaping" motions.[20] There are corresponding differences in the structure
and musculature of the head and neck between males and females.[22] Huia had very well developed depressor jaw
muscles, and an occipital crest that provided extra surface for muscle attachment, allowing the jaw to be opened with
considerable force.[24] Once the bird had secured a meal, it flew to a perch with the insect in its feet. The Huia
stripped its meal of any hard parts, then tossed the remainder up, caught, and swallowed it.[9]
A pair did not cooperate in feeding, at least not in a strict sense. All such reports are based on misunderstanding of
an account by ornithologist Walter Buller[25] of a pair kept in captivity obtaining wood-boring beetle larvae.[26]
According to this misunderstanding, which has become part of ecological folklore, the male would tear at the wood
and open larval tunnels, thus allowing the female to probe deeply into the tunnels with her long, pliant bill.[22]
Rather, the divergent bills represent an extreme example of niche differentiation, reducing intraspecific competition
between the sexes. This allowed the species to exploit a wide range of food sources in different microhabitats.[27][28]

Huia

26
The New Zealand forest relies heavily on frugivorous birds for seed
dispersal: about 70% of the woody plants have fruits that are probably
dispersed by birds, which included the Huia.[29] The range of fruits
eaten by the Huia is difficult to establish:[29] hinau (Elaeocarpus
dentatus), pigeonwood (Hedycarya arborea) and various species of
Coprosma are recorded by Buller,[29] and they were also recorded as
eating the fruits of kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides).[20] The
extinction of the Huia and other frugivorous New Zealand bird species
including the moa and piopio, and the diminishing range of many
Huia ate the fruits of a few native plants
others, including the kiwi, weka, and Kkako, has left few effective
including
kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides)
seed dispersers in the New Zealand forest.[29] For plants with fruit
greater than 1cm in diameter, kereru are the sole remaining dispersers
in the ecosystem, and they are rare or extinct in some areas.[29] This depletion of avifauna in the forest ecosystem
may be having major impacts on processes such as forest regeneration and seed dispersal.[29]

Voice
Like so many other aspects of its biology, the vocalisations of the Huia are not well known,[20] and present
knowledge is based on very few accounts. The calls were mostly a varied array of whistles, "peculiar and strange",
but also "soft, melodious and flute-like".[20] An imitation of the bird's call survives as a recording of 1909 Huia
Search Team member Henare Haumana whistling the call (see External links).[30] Huia were often silent. When they
did vocalise, their calls could carry considerable distances some were audible from up to 400m (1300ft) away
through dense forest.[20] The calls were said to differ between sexes, though there are no details. Calls were given
with the bird's head and neck stretched outward and its bill pointing 30 to 45 degrees from the vertical.[20] Most
references describe Huia calls as heard in the early morning; one records it as the first bird to sing in the dawn
chorus, and captive birds were known to "wake the household".[16] Like the Whitehead, Huia behaved unusually
before the onset of wet weather, being "happy and in full song".[16] The bird's name is onomatopoeic:[20] it was
named by Mori for its loud distress call, a smooth, unslurred whistle rendered as uia, uia, uia or where are you?.
This call was said to be given when the bird was excited or hungry.[16] Chicks had a "plaintive cry, pleasant to the
ear", would feebly answer imitations by people, and were very noisy when kept in tents.[16]

Commensals and parasites

A species of parasitic phtilopterid louse, Rallicola extinctus,[31] was only known to live on the Huia, and apparently
became extinct with its host.[32] In 2008, a new species of feather mite, Coraciacarus muellermotzfeldi, was
described from dried corpses found in the feathers of a Huia skin held by a European museum.[33] While the genus
Coraciacarus has a wide range of hosts globally, the presence of a representative of the genus on a passerine bird
was an "enigmatic phenomenon".[33] The discoverers suggested the mite could have been horizontally transferred
from one of the two native, migratory species of cuckoo (Cuculiformes).[33]

Huia

27

Social behaviour and reproduction

A quiet, social bird, the Huia was monogamous, and pairs probably paired for
life.[15][20] The bird was usually found in breeding pairs, although sometimes
groups of four or more were encountered.[20] Walter Buller records that a tame
pair would always keep close to each other, constantly uttering a "low
affectionate twitter", even when in captivity. There are records of this same
pair[20] and a further, wild pair[12] "hopping from branch to branch and fanning
their tails, then meeting to caress each other with their bills" and uttering these
noises. The male is said to have fed the female in courtship.[20] It is thought that
these behaviours may have been a sexual display. The claim that the male fed the
female while she was incubating and on the nest "lacks evidence".[16] When the
male of this captive pair was accidentally killed, the female "manifesting the
utmost distress pined for her mate and died 10 days afterwards".[25] A Mori man
in the 19th century recalled: "I was always told by my old people that a pair of
Huia lived on most affectionate terms... If the male died first, the female died
soon after of grief".[8] The Huia had no fear of people; females allowed
themselves to be handled on the nest,[8] and birds could easily be captured by
hand.[11]

A 1830s painting by John Gould

illustrating the remarkable sexual
dimorphism of the Huia's beak. The
female's beak (top) was finer, longer,
and more curved than the male's
(below)

Little is known about the Huia's reproduction, as only two eggs and four nests were ever described.[16] The only
known Huia egg to still exist is in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.[34] The
breeding season for mating, building nests, laying eggs and raising young is thought to have been late spring
(OctoberNovember).[9][15][16] It is thought they nested solitarily; pairs are said to have been territorial and the birds
would remain on their territories for life.[20] Huia appear to have raised just one brood per season;[16] the number of
eggs in a clutch is variously described as being 35,4,24 and 14.[16] These eggs were greyish with purple and
brown speckles, and measured 45 by 30mm (1.8 by 1.5in). Incubation was mostly by the female, though there is
evidence that the male also had a small role, as rubbed-bare brooding patches that were smaller than those of females
were discovered on some males in November.[16] The incubation period is unknown.[16] Eggshells were apparently
removed from the nest by adults. The brood size was usually one or two, though there was the odd record of up to
three chicks in a single nest. Nests were constructed in varying places: in dead trees, the crooks of large branches,
tree hollows, on branches, or "on or near the ground", and some nests were covered with hanging vegetation or
vines. The nest itself was a large saucer-shaped structure, up to 350mm in diameter and 70mm deep, with thick
walls of dry grass, leaves and "withered stems of herbaceous plants".[16] A central small, shallow cup of soft
materials such as grass and fine twigs cushioned and insulated the eggs.[13][15][20] After hatching, young remained in
the family group and were fed by the adults for three months, by which time they appeared adult.[16]

Huia

28

Relationship with humans

In culture
In Mori culture, the "white heron and the Huia were not normally eaten but
were rare birds treasured for their precious plumes, worn by people of high
rank".[35][36] The bold and inquisitive nature of the Huia made it particularly
easy to capture.[11][15] Mori attracted the Huia by imitating its call and then
captured it with a tari (a carved pole with a noose at the end) or snare, or killed it
with clubs or long spears. Often they exploited the strong pair bond by capturing
one of a pair, which would then call out, attracting its mate, which could be
easily captured.[15][25] Opinion on the quality of Huia meat as food varied wildly;
although not usually hunted for this purpose, the Huia was considered "good
eating" in pies or curried stew[20] by some,[8] but a "tough morsel" and "unfit to
eat" by others.[20]
Tukukino, a Mori chief from the
Although the Huia's range was restricted to the southern North Island, its tail
Hauraki District, wearing a phoi
feathers were valued highly and were exchanged among tribes for other valuable
ornament made from a Huia skin
goods such as pounamu and shark teeth, or given as tokens of friendship and
(part of a painting c. 1880)
respect. Through this trade, the feathers reached the far north and the far south of
New Zealand.[3][11][15] They were stored in intricately carved boxes called waka huia, which were hung from the
ceilings of chiefs' houses.[3][15] Huia feathers were worn at funerals and used to decorate the heads of the
deceased.[15][37] The marereko, described by Edward Robert Tregear as an "ancient war-plume", consisted of twelve
Huia feathers.[3][38] The highly valued phoi was an ornament made from the skin of the Huia: the bird was skinned
with the beak, skull and wattles attached and the legs and wings removed,[3][15] carefully dried, and the resulting
ornament worn from the neck or ears.[8] Dried Huia heads were also worn as pendants called ngutu huia.[3] A
captured Huia would be kept in a small cage so that its tail feathers could be plucked as they grew to full size.[8][11]

The bird was also kept by Mori as a pet, and like the tui, it could be trained to say a few words.[8] There is also a
record of a tame Huia kept by European settlers in a small village in the Forty-Mile Bush in the 19th century.[11]
New Zealand has released several postage stamps portraying the Huia,[39][40] and
the New Zealand sixpence circulated from 1933 to 1966 featured a female Huia
on the reverse.
The degree to which the Huia was known and admired in New Zealand is
reflected in the large number of suburban and geographical features which are
named after the species. There are several roads and streets named after the Huia
in the North Island, with several in Wellington (including Huia Road in Days
Bay not far from where one of the last sightings of this species occurred in the
early 1920s in the forests of East Harbour Regional Park) and also in Auckland,
where there is even a Huia suburb in Waitakere. A river on the west coast of the
A pair of Huia are pictured on New
South Island and the Huiarau Ranges in the central North Island are also named
Zealand's 1898 threepenny stamp.
after the bird. The species was once found living in great abundance in the
forests of these mountains:[3] Huiarau means "a hundred Huia".[20] Businesses
include the public swimming pool in Lower Hutt, a Marlborough winery, and Huia Publishers, which specialises in
Mori writing and perspectives. The name was first given to a child in the late 19th century, to the son of members
of a lower North Island iwi concerned about the bird's rapid decline,[15] and although uncommon, it is still used
today in New Zealand as a name for girls and more rarely for boys (e.g. Huia Edmonds), of both European and
Mori descent.

Huia

29
Tail feathers of the extinct Huia are very rare and they have become a collectors' item. In June 2010 a single Huia tail
feather sold at auction in Auckland for NZ$8,000, much higher than the $500 the auctioneers had expected, making
it the most expensive feather ever. The previous record price for a single feather was $US2,800 (NZ$4,000) achieved
by a bald eagle feather at auction in the United States.[41]

Extinction
The Huia was found throughout the North Island before humans arrived in New Zealand. The Mori arrived around
800 years ago, and by the arrival of European settlers in the 1840s, habitat destruction and hunting had reduced the
bird's range to the southern North Island.[13] However, Mori hunting pressures on the Huia were limited to some
extent by traditional protocols. The hunting season was from May to July when the bird's plumage was in prime
condition, while a rhui (hunting ban) was enforced in spring and summer.[15] It was not until European settlement
that the Huia's numbers began to decline severely, due mainly to two well-documented factors: widespread
deforestation and overhunting.
Like the extinctions of other New Zealand birds such as the piopio in
the 19th century, the decline of the Huia was poorly studied. Massive
deforestation occurred in the North Island at this time, particularly in
the lowlands of southern Hawkes Bay, the Manawatu and the
Wairarapa, as land was cleared by European settlers for agriculture.
The Huia was particularly vulnerable to this as it could only live in
old-growth forest where there were abundant rotting trees filled with
wood-boring insect larvae. It seems it could not survive in
regenerating, secondary forests.[12][15] Although the mountainous part
of its former range was not deforested, the lowland forests of the
valleys below were systematically destroyed.[8][15] The destruction of
this part of its habitat would have undoubtedly had a severe impact on
Huia populations, but its removal would have been particularly dire if
they did in fact descend to the lowlands as a winter refuge to escape
snow at higher altitudes[15][37] as some researchers including Oliver
have surmised.[20]

Mounted pair in Birmingham, England.

Commercial hunting may have contributed to the
extinction of the Huia

It appears that predation by invasive mammalian species including ship rats, cats, and mustelids was an additional
factor in the decline in Huia numbers introduction of these animals by New Zealand Acclimatisation Societies
peaked in the 1880s and coincided with a particularly sharp decline in Huia populations.[3] Because it spent a lot of
time on the ground, the Huia would have been particularly vulnerable to mammalian predators.[12][13] Another
hypothetical cause of extinction is exotic parasites and disease[1] introduced from Asia with the common myna.
Habitat destruction and the predations of introduced species were problems faced by all New Zealand birds, but in
addition the Huia faced massive pressure from hunting. Due to its pronounced sexual dimorphism and its beauty,
Huia were sought after as mounted specimens by wealthy collectors in Europe[42] and by museums all over the
world.[15][20] These individuals and institutions were willing to pay large sums of money for good specimens, and
the overseas demand created a strong financial incentive for hunters in New Zealand.[42] This hunting was initially
by naturalists. Austrian taxidermist Andreas Reischek took 212 pairs as specimens for the natural history museum in
Vienna over a period of 10 years,[15] while New Zealand ornithologist Walter Buller collected 18 on just one of
several expeditions to the Rimutaka Ranges in 1883.[15] Others keen to profit soon joined in. Buller records that also
in 1883, a party of 11 Mori obtained 646 Huia skins from the forest between the Manawatu Gorge and
Akitio.[13][25] Several thousand Huia were exported overseas as part of this trade.[12] Infrastructure development
within lowland forest did not help the situation: hundreds of Huia were shot around road and rail construction
camps.[20]

Huia

30
While we were looking at and admiring this little picture of bird-life, a pair of Huia, without uttering a sound,
appeared in a tree overhead, and as they were caressing each other with their beautiful bills, a charge of No.6
brought them both to the ground together. The incident was rather touching and I felt almost glad that the shot
was not mine, although by no means loth to appropriate 2 fine specimens.
Sir Walter Buller, New Zealand's well-known 19th-century ornithologist, encapsulating what one source describes as the "ambiguous"
[43]

19th-century attitudes towards the declining New Zealand avifauna.

The rampant and unsustainable hunting was not just financially motivated: it also
had a more philosophical, fatalistic aspect.[42] The conventional wisdom among
New Zealand Europeans in the 19th century was that things colonial, whether
they were plants, animals or people, were inferior to things European.[44] It was
widely assumed that the plants and animals of New Zealand's forest ecosystems
would be quickly replaced by more vigorous and competitive European
species.[44] This assumption of inevitable doom led to a conclusion that the
conservation of native biota was pointless and futile; Victorian collectors instead
focused their efforts on acquiring a good range of specimens before the rare
species disappeared altogether.[42]
There were some attempts to conserve the Huia, but they were few, poorly
organised and poorly enforced legally: the conservation movement in New
Mori man from the Hauraki district
Zealand was still very much in its infancy.[15] There were successive sharp
wearing Huia tail feathers in his hair
declines in numbers of Huia in the 1860s[3] and in the late 1880s, prompting the
(photo prior to 1886)
chiefs of the Manawatu and the Wairarapa to place a rhui on the Tararua
[12]
Range.
In February 1892, the Wild Birds Protection Act was amended to include the Huia, making it illegal to
kill the bird, but enforcement was not taken seriously.[12] Island sanctuaries were set up for endangered native birds
after this Act, but the new bird sanctuaries, including Kapiti Island, Little Barrier Island and Resolution Island, were
never stocked with Huia. Although attempts were made to capture birds for transfer, no Huia were ever
transferred.[3] The Kapiti Island attempt is documented as being particularly poorly managed.[12] A live pair destined
to be transferred to the island in 1893 was instead appropriated by Buller, who bent the law to take them back to
England as a present for Lord Rothschild, along with the last collected live pair of laughing owls.[44]
The Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary, visited New Zealand in 1901. At an official
Mori welcome in Rotorua, a guide took a Huia tail feather from her hair and placed it in the band of the Duke's hat
as a token of respect.[12][20] Many people in England and New Zealand wanted to emulate this royal fashion and
wear Huia feathers in their hats. The price of tail feathers was soon pushed to 1, making each bird worth 12, and
some feathers sold for as much as 5.[12] Female Huia beaks were also set in gold as jewellery.[45] Shooting season
notices ceased listing the Huia as a protected species in 1901,[15] and a last-ditch attempt to reinforce government
protection failed when the Solicitor General ruled that there was no law to protect feathers.[12]

Huia

31
The decline of the Huia over the southern half of the North Island occurred at
markedly different rates in different locations. Areas where dramatic declines
were observed in the 1880s included the Puketoi Range, the Hutt Valley and
Tararuas, and the Pahiatua-Dannevirke area.[20] The species was abundant in a
few places in the early 20th century between Hawke's Bay and the Wairarapa;[3]
a flock of 100150 birds was reported at the summit of the Akatarawa-Waikane
track in 1905; they were still "fairly plentiful" in the upper reaches of the
Rangitikei River in 1906[3] and yet, the last confirmed sighting came just one
year later.[3]
The last official, confirmed Huia sighting was made on 28 December 1907 when
W. W. Smith saw three birds in the forests of the Tararua Ranges.[13]
Mokau Falls in the Ureweras is close
Unconfirmed, "quite credible" reports suggest that extinction for the species
to the location of the last credible
came a little later. A man familiar with the species reported seeing three Huia in
Huia sightings.
Gollans Valley behind York Bay (between Petone and Eastbourne on Wellington
Harbour), an area of mixed beech and podocarp forest well within the bird's
former range, on 28 December 1922.[12] Sightings of the Huia were also reported here in 1912 and 1913. Despite
this, naturalists from the Dominion Museum in Wellington did not investigate the reports. The last credible reports of
Huia come from the forests of Te Urewera National Park, with one from near Mt Urutawa in 1952 and final sightings
near Lake Waikareiti in 1961 and 1963.[3] The possibility of a small Huia population still surviving in the Urewera
ranges has been proposed by some researchers, but is considered highly unlikely. No recent expeditions have been
mounted to find a living specimen.[12][15]
Students at Hastings Boys' High School organised a conference in 1999 to consider cloning the Huia, their school
emblem.[46][47] The tribe Ngti Huia agreed in principle to support the endeavour, which would be carried out at the
University of Otago, and a California-based internet start-up volunteered $100,000 of funding.[48] However, Sandy
Bartle, curator of birds at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, said that the complete Huia genome
could not be derived from museum skins because of the poor state of the DNA, and cloning was therefore unlikely to
succeed.[49]

References
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Heteralocha acutirostris" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/ details/ 106006260). IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 16 July 2012.
[2] Cabanis 18501851:218, footnote
[3] Higgins et al. 2006:1014
[4] Gray 1840:15
[5] Buller 1888:8
[6] Ewen, John G; Flux, Ian; Ericson, Per GP (2006). "Systematic affinities of two enigmatic New Zealand passerines of high conservation
priority, the hihi or stitchbird Notiomystis cincta and the kkako Callaeas cinerea" (http:/ / www. nrm. se/ download/ 18.
4e1d3ca810c24ddc7038000945/ Ewen+ et+ al+ Stitchbird+ MPEV+ 2006. pdf) (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (1):
28184. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.01.026. PMID16527495. .
[7] Shepherd, Lara D.; Lambert, David M., LD; Lambert, DM (2007). "The relationships and origins of the New Zealand wattlebirds
(Passeriformes, Callaeatidae) from DNA sequence analyses". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43 (2): 48092.
doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.12.008. PMID17369056.
[8] Riley, Murdoch (2001). Mori Bird Lore: An introduction. New Zealand: Viking Sevenseas. ISBN978-0-85467-100-7.
[9] "Huia". The Official World Wildlife Fund Guide to Extinct Species of Modern Times. 1. Osprey, Florida: Beacham Publishing. 1997.
pp.6365. ISBN0-933833-40-7.
[10] Falla, Robert Alexander; Sibson, Richard Broadley; Turbott, Evan Graham (1979). The New Guide to the Birds of New Zealand. Collins.
ISBN0-00-217563-0.
[11] Best 2005
[12] Morris and Smith 1995
[13] Barrie and Robertson 2005

Huia

32
[14] Buller 1888:8
[15] Szabo, Michael (OctoberDecember 1993). "Huia; The sacred Bird". New Zealand Geographic (20).
[16] Higgins et al. 2006:1016
[17] Jayne-Wilson 2004:76
[18] Frith, CB (1997). "Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris: Callaeidae)-like sexual bill dimorphism in some birds of paradise (Paradisaeidae) and its
significance" (http:/ / notornis. osnz. org. nz/ system/ files/ Notornis_44_3_177. pdf) (PDF). Notornis 44 (3): 17784. . Retrieved 16 January
2013.
[19] Holdaway, Worthy 2002:481
[20] Higgins et al. 2006:1015
[21] Tennyson and Martinson 2006
[22] Holdaway, Worthy 2002:437
[23] Holdaway, Worthy 2002:483
[24] Burton, Philip J.K. (1974). "Anatomy of head and neck in the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) with comparative notes on other [[callaeidae
(http:/ / www. archive. org/ stream/ bulletinofbritis27zoollond#page/ 3/ mode/ 1up/ )]"]. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History),
Zoology 27 (1): 348. .
[25] Buller 1888
[26] Jamieson, Ian G; Spencer, Hamish G (1996). "The bill and foraging behaviour of the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris): were they unique?"
(http:/ / notornis. osnz. org. nz/ system/ files/ Notornis_43_1_14. pdf) (PDF fulltext). Notornis 43 (1): 1418. . Retrieved 13 January 2013.
[27] Holdaway, Worthy 2002:482
[28] Moorhouse, Ron J (1996). "The extraordinary bill dimorphism of the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris): sexual selection or intersexual
competition?" (http:/ / notornis. osnz. org. nz/ system/ files/ Notornis_43_1_19. pdf) (PDF fulltext). Notornis 43 (1): 1934. . Retrieved 16
January 2013.
[29] Clout, M.N.; Hay, J.R. (1989). "The importance of birds as browsers, seed dispersers and pollinators in New Zealand forests". New Zealand
Journal of Ecology 12 (supplement): 2733.
[30] Holdaway, Richard (2009). "Extinctions" (http:/ / www. teara. govt. nz/ en/ extinctions/ 6/ 3/ 2). Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
[31] Palma, Ricardo L. (1999). "Amendments and additions to the 1982 list of chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from birds in New Zealand."
(http:/ / notornis. osnz. org. nz/ system/ files/ Notornis_46_3_373. pdf) (PDF fulltext). Notornis 46 (3): 37387. . Retrieved 16 January 2013.
[32] Mey, Eberhard (1990). "Eine neue ausgestorbene Vogel-Ischnozere von Neuseeland, Huiacola extinctus (Insecta, Phthiraptera)" (in German
with English abstract). Zoologischer Anzeiger 224 (1/2): 4973.
[33] Dabert, J.; Alberti, G. (2008). "A new species of the genus Coraciacarus (Gabuciniidae, Pterolichoidea) from the Huia Heteralocha
acutirostris (Callaeatidae, Passeriformes), an extinct bird species from New Zealand". Natural History 42 (4344): 276366.
doi:10.1080/00222930802354142.
[34] "Heteralocha acutirostris" (http:/ / collections. tepapa. govt. nz/ objectdetails. aspx?oid=534075). Collections Online. Museum of New
Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. . Retrieved 17 November 2010.
[35] Orbell 1992:8283
[36] Orbell mentions some of the sacred associations of the Huia, saying that if a man dreamed of a Huia or its feathers, it meant his wife would
conceive a daughter (page 83).
[37] Fuller, Errol (1987). Extinct Birds; Foreword by The Hon. Miriam Rothschild. London: Viking/Rainbird. pp.22933.
[38] Tregear, Edward Robert (1904). The Mori Race (http:/ / www. nzetc. org/ tm/ scholarly/ tei-TreRace. html). Wanganui: Archibald
Dudingston Willis. . Retrieved 2 September 2007.
[39] New Zealand Post. "Redrawn Pictorials" (http:/ / stamps. nzpost. co. nz/ new-zealand/ 1907/ redrawn-pictorials). Stamps: Historical Issues. .
Retrieved 16 January 2013.
[40] New Zealand Post. "Extinct Birds" (http:/ / stamps. nzpost. co. nz/ new-zealand/ 1996/ extinct-birds). Stamps: Historical Issues. . Retrieved
16 January 2013.
[41] Malkin, Bonnie (22 June 2010). "Most expensive feather ever fetches 4,000 at auction Heteralocha acutirostris" (http:/ / www. telegraph.
co. uk/ news/ worldnews/ australiaandthepacific/ newzealand/ 7846625/ Most-expensive-feather-ever-fetches-4000-at-auction. html). Daily
Telegraph (London). . Retrieved 27 June 2010.
[42] Jayne-Wilson 2004:140
[43] Hutching 2004
[44] Jayne-Wilson 2004:265
[45] "Huia beak brooch" (http:/ / collections. tepapa. govt. nz/ objectdetails. aspx?oid=226654& coltype=history& regno=gh005020). Collections
Online. Museum of New Zealand-Te Papa Tongarewa. 2004. . Retrieved 19 June 2010.
[46] Perry, Chris (September 2000). "Boys Cloning Birds" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20080612131328/ http:/ / nzsm. webcentre. co. nz/
article2371. htm). New Zealand Science Monthly. Webcentre. Archived from the original (http:/ / nzsm. webcentre. co. nz/ article2371. htm)
on 12 June 2008. . Retrieved 19 June 2010.
[47] "Cloning of extinct Huia bird approved" (http:/ / www. cnn. com/ NATURE/ 9907/ 20/ cloning. enn/ ). CNN Nature (Cable News Network).
20 July 1999. . Retrieved 19 June 2010.

Huia

33
[48] Dorey, Emma (1999). "Huia cloned back to life?" (http:/ / www. nature. com/ nbt/ journal/ v17/ n8/ full/ nbt0899_736c. html). Nature
Biotechnology 17 (8): 736. doi:10.1038/11628. PMID10429272. . Retrieved 19 June 2010.
[49] Priestley, Rebecca (25 February 3 March 2006). "The Last Huia" (http:/ / www. listener. co. nz/ current-affairs/ science/ the-last-huia/ ).
New Zealand Listener. APN Holdings NZ. . Retrieved 19 June 2010.

Bibliography
Barrie, Heather; Robertson, Hugh (2005). The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand (Revised Edition). Viking.
ISBN978-0-14-302040-0.
Best, Elsdon (2005). Forest Lore of the Mori. Te Papa Press. ISBN1-877385-01-8.
Buller, Walter Lawry (1888). A History of the Birds of New Zealand (2nd ed.). London: Walter Buller.
Cabanis, Jean (18501851). Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine
auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt. Mit kritischen Anmerkungen und Beschreibung der neuen Arten. I. Theil,
die Singvgel enthalthend (http://books.google.com/books?id=M_sYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA218). Berlin:
Museum Heineanum.
Fuller, Errol (1987). Extinct Birds; Foreword by The Hon. Miriam Rothschild. London: Viking/Rainbird.
pp.22933.
Gray, George Robert (1840). A list of the genera of birds, with their synonyma, and an indication of the typical
species of each genus (http://books.google.com/books?id=iYk-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA15). London: R. and J.E.
Taylor.
Higgins, Peter Jeffrey; Peter, John M; Cowling, SJ, eds. (2006). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and
Antarctic Birds. Volume 7: Boatbill to Starlings, Part A: Boatbill to Larks. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
ISBN978-0-19-553996-7.
Hutching, Gerard (2004). The Penguin Natural World of New Zealand. Auckland: Penguin.
Wilson, Kerry-Jayne (2004). Flight of the Huia: Ecology and Conservation of New Zealand's Frogs, Reptiles,
Birds and Mammals. Christchurch, New Zealand: Canterbury University Press. ISBN0-908812-52-3.
Morris, Rod; Smith, Hal (1995). Wild South: Saving New Zealand's Endangered Birds (2nd ed.). New Zealand:
Random House. ISBN978-1-86941-043-8.
Orbell, Margaret Rose (1992). Traditional Maori Stories. Birkenhead, Auckland: Reed.
ISBN978-0-7900-0534-8.
Riley, Murdoch (2001). Mori Bird Lore: An introduction. NZ: Viking Sevenseas. ISBN978-0-85467-100-7.
Tennyson, A.; Martinson, P. (2006). Extinct Birds of New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: Te Papa Press.
ISBN0-909010-21-8.
Worthy, Trevor H.; Holdaway, Richard N. (2002). The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric Life in New Zealand.
Christchurch, New Zealand: Canterbury University Press. ISBN0-253-34034-9.

Further reading
Gill, B.; Martinson, P. (1991). New Zealand's Extinct Birds. Auckland: Random Century. ISBN1-86941-147-1.
Lambert, D.M.; Shepherd, L.D.; Huynen, L.; Beans-Picn, G.; Walter, G.H.; Millar, C.D. (2009). Cordaux,
Richard. ed. "The Molecular Ecology of the Extinct New Zealand Huia". PLoS ONE 4 (11): e8019.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008019. PMC2777306. PMID19946368.
Monson, Clark S. (2005). "Cultural Constraints and Corrosive Colonization: Western Commerce in
Aotearoa/New Zealand and the Extinction of the Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris)" (https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/
index.php/PacificStudies/article/view/10304/9950). Pacific Studies 28 (1/2): 6893. ISSN0275-3596.

Huia

34

External links
3D view (http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=42) of specimens RMNH 110.080, RMNH
110.081, RMNH 110.101, RMNH 110.102, RMNH 110.107, RMNH 110.108 and RMNH 110.109 at Naturalis,
Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).
Huia specimens (http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Taxon.aspx?irn=16405) at the Museum of New Zealand Te
Papa Tongarewa
Huia calls (imitation) (http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/extinctions/6/3/2)

Kangaroo Island Emu

35

Kangaroo Island Emu

Kangaroo Island Emu

Illustration by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, based on life-drawings made during Baudin's journey and specimens kept at Jardin des
Plantes. The animals were thought to be a male and female of the same species, but are possibly a Kangaroo Island Emu and King
[1]
Island Emu

Conservation status

Extinct (1827) (IUCN 3.1)[2]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Superorder:

Paleognathae

Order:

Struthioniformes

Family:

Dromaiidae

Genus:

Dromaius

Species:

D. baudinianus
Binomial name
Dromaius baudinianus
Parker, 1984[3]

Geographic distribution of emu taxa and historic shoreline reconstructions around Tasmania, D. baudinianus in purple

Synonyms

Kangaroo Island Emu

36

Casuarius diemenianus Jennings,1827

Dromaius parvulus Mathews,1901
Peronista diemenianus Mathews,1927
Kangaroo Island Emu or Dwarf Emu[3] (Dromaius baudinianus) is an extinct member of the bird family
Dromaiidae. It was restricted to Kangaroo Island, South Australia, which was known as Ile Decrs by the members
of the Baudin expedition. It differed from the mainland Emu mainly in its smaller size. The species became extinct in
approximately 1827.[4]

History

Illustrations of an Emu from Kangaroo Island by

Lesueur

life drawings of the Emu from

Kangaroo Island

It was discovered in 1802 by Matthew Flinders and reported to be quite

common around Nepean Bay. The first bones of the species were
discovered in 1903 at The Brecknells, sandhills on the west side of
Cape Gantheaume. Initially there was confusion regarding the
taxonomic status and geographic origin of the Kangaroo Island Emu,
particularly with respect to their relationship to King Island Emu,
which were also transported to France as part of the same expedition.
The expeditions logbooks failed to clearly state where and when dwarf
emu individuals were collected. This led to both taxa being interpreted
as a single taxon and that it originated from Kangaroo Island. More
recent finds of sub-fossil material and subsequent studies on King and
Kangaroo Island Emu confirm their separate geographic origin and
distinct morphology.[5] Due to this confusion, it only received its
current scientific name in 1984, after a thorough revision of the extinct
emus by Shane A. Parker. He based it on a sub-fossil specimen from
Kangaroo Island, South Australia.[3][6] Specimen SAM B689Ib, a left
tarsometatarsus, is the holotype.[7]
The species is known from historical observer accounts and from
bones, including sets deposited at the South Australian Museum. The
mounted skin that can be seen at the Natural History Museum of
Geneva in Switzerland and the skeleton exhibited in the Natural history
Museum of Paris belong to the same individual. The Geneva specimen
is thus the only skin left on earth of this taxon.

It is believed that this emu lived in the interior forest.[8]

The species' extinction has been attributed to hunting and habitat clearance through burning.[9]

Kangaroo Island Emu

References
[1] Pfennigwerth, S. (2010). "(William T. Stearn Prize 2009) "The mighty cassowary": The discovery and demise of the King Island emu".
Archives of Natural History 37: 7490. doi:10.3366/E0260954109001661.
[2] BirdLife International
[3] Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)
[4] Stattersfield et al. 1998.
[5] Heupink, T. H.; Huynen, L.; Lambert, D. M. (2011). Fleischer, Robert C.. ed. "Ancient DNA Suggests Dwarf and 'Giant' Emu Are
Conspecific". PLoS ONE 6 (4): e18728. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018728. PMC3073985. PMID21494561.
[6] http:/ / www. birdssa. asn. au/ SAOpdf/ Volume%2031/ 1993V31P148. pdf
[7] Parker S (1984) The extinct Kangaroo Island Emu, a hitherto-unrecognised species. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 104: 1922.
[8] BirdLife International (2008)(a)
[9] Garnett 1993.

"Species factsheet: Dromaius baudinianus" (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=9783).

BirdLife International. 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-19.</ref>
BirdLife International (2008(a)). "Kangaroo Island Emu - BirdLife Species Factsheet" (http://www.birdlife.org/
datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=9783&m=1). Data Zone. Retrieved 06 Feb
2009.
Davies, S.J.J.F. (2003). "Emus". In Hutchins, Michael. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. 8 Birds I Tinamous
and Ratites to Hoatzins (2 ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp.8387. ISBN0-7876-5784-0.

External links
Species profile at the Australian Government's Department of Environment and Heritage website (http://www.
deh.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=26183)
Species page at The Extinction Website (http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/kangarooislandemu.
htm)

Further reading
Baxter, Chris (1995): An Annotated List of the Birds of Kangaroo Island (revised edition). South Australia
National Parks and Wildlife Service. ISBN 0-7308-0677-4
Garnett, S. (1993): Threatened and extinct birds of Australia. Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union
Parker, Shane A. (1984): The extinct Kangaroo Island emu, a hitherto unrecognised species. Bull. Brit. Ornithol.
Club 104: 19-22.
Stattersfield, Alison J.; Crosby, Michael J.; Long, Adrian J. & Wege, David C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the
World: Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation.

37

Kmao

38

Kmao
Kmao

Conservation status

Extinct (1989) (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Passeriformes

Family:

Turdidae

Genus:

Myadestes

Species:

M. myadestinus
Binomial name
Myadestes myadestinus
(Stejneger, 1887)

The Kmao or Large Kauai Thrush (Myadestes myadestinus) was a small, dark solitaire endemic to Kauai in the
Hawaiian Islands.

Kmao

39

Characteristics
The adult bird grew up to 8 inches (cm) in length. The male and
female of the species looked similar. It was dark brown above and gray
below, with black legs. It was closely related to the other species of
Hawaiian thrushes, the Puaiohi (M. palmeri), the mao (M. obscurus)
and the likely-extinct Olomao (M. lanaiensis).
Its song was a complex melody composed of flute-like notes, liquid
warbles, buzzy trills, and gurgling whistles. The call was a raspy
"braak," with an alternate high pitched note similar to a police whistle.
The bird occurred in the understory of densely vegetated gulches,
where it often perched motionlessly in a hunched posture. Like other
native Hawaiian thrushes, it often quivered its wings and fed primarily
on fruit and insects.

Decline and disappearance

M. myadestinus above

In the late 1800s, it was considered the most common bird on Kauai,
occurring throughout all areas of the island, but land clearing and avian
malaria brought on by introduced mosquitoes decimated the birds. Introduced animals such as feral pigs (which
create pools for their wallows, in which mosquitoes can breed) and rats (which feed on eggs and unfledged birds)
also contributed to the bird's demise. Competition from introduced bird species may also have led to further declines.
The kmao is classified as extinct. The last probable sighting occurred in 1989 in in the Alakai Wilderness
Preserve, its last stronghold.

References
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Myadestes myadestinus" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/ details/ 106006347). IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 16 July 2012.

External links
BirdLife Species Factsheet (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.
asp&sid=6347&m=0)
3D view (http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=22) of specimens RMNH 110.024 and RMNH
110.025 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).
"Kmao or Large Kauai Thrush" (http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/cwcs/files/NAAT final CWCS/
Chapters/Terrestrial Fact Sheets/Forest Birds/kamao NAAT final !.pdf) (PDF). Hawaiis Comprehensive
Wildlife Conservation Strategy. State of Hawaii. 2005-10-01.

Labrador Duck

40

Labrador Duck
Labrador Duck

Stuffed specimens, AMNH

Conservation status

Extinct (c. 1878) (IUCN 3.1)

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Anseriformes

Family:

Anatidae

Subfamily:

Merginae

Genus:

Camptorhynchus
Bonaparte, 1838

Species:

C. labradorius
Binomial name
Camptorhynchus labradorius
Gmelin, 1789

The Labrador Duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius)

Labrador Duck

41

Habitat
The Labrador Duck migrated annually, wintering off the coasts of New Jersey and New Englandwhere it favoured
southern sandy coasts, bays, and inletsand breeding in Labrador in the summer. John James Audubon's son
reported seeing a nest belonging to the species in Labrador, but it is uncertain where it bred. Some believe that it may
have laid its eggs in the islands in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.[1]

Other names
The Labrador Duck was also known as a Pied Duck, a vernacular name
that it shared with the Surf Scoter and the Common Goldeneye (and
even the American Oystercatcher), a fact that has led to difficulties in
interpreting old records of these species, and also as Skunk Duck. Both
names refer to the male's striking white/black piebald coloration. Yet
another common name was Sand Shoal Duck, referring to its habit of
feeding in shallow water. The closest evolutionary relatives of the
Labrador Duck are apparently the scoters (Melanitta).[2]
Illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans of a
female and male

Diet
The Labrador Duck fed on small molluscs, and some fishermen
reported catching it on fishing lines baited with mussels.[1] The
structure of the bill was highly modified from that of most ducks,
having a wide, flattened tip with numerous lamellae inside. In this way
it is considered an ecological counterpart of the North Pacific/North
Asian Steller's Eider. The beak was also particularly soft, and may
have been used to probe through sediment for food.[1]

Schematic illustrations of male

Another, completely unrelated, duck with similar (but even more

specialized) bill morphology is the Australian Pink-eared Duck, which
feeds largely on plankton, but also mollusks; the condition in the
Labrador Duck probably resembled that in the Blue Duck most in
outward appearance.

Extinction
It is thought that the Labrador Duck was always rare, but between 1850
and 1870, populations waned further.[1] Its extinction is still not fully
explained. Although hunted for food, this duck was considered to taste
bad, would rot quickly and fetched a low price. Consequently, it was
not sought much by hunters. However, it is thought that the eggs may
have been over-harvested, and it may have been subject to
Illustration by John James Audubon
depredations by the feather trade in its breeding area as well. Another
possible factor in the bird's extinction was the decline in mussels and
other shellfish on which they are believed to have fed in their winter quarters, due to growth of population and
industry on the Eastern Seaboard. Although all sea ducks readily feed on shallow-water molluscs, no Western
Atlantic bird species seems to have been as dependent on such food as much as the Labrador Duck.[3]

Labrador Duck

References
[1] Flannery, Tim (2001). A Gap in Nature. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. pp.6061.
[2] Livezey, Bradley C. (1995): Phylogeny and Evolutionary Ecology of Modern Seaducks (Anatidae: Mergini). Condor 97: 233-255. PDF
fulltext (http:/ / elibrary. unm. edu/ sora/ Condor/ files/ issues/ v097n01/ p0233-p0255. pdf)
[3] Phillips, John C. (19221926): A Natural History of Ducks. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, volume 4, pp.5763.

BirdLife International (2004). Camptorhynchus labradorius. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN
2006. www.iucnredlist.org (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes
justification for why this species is listed as extinct
Cokinos, Christopher (2000): Hope is the Thing with Feathers. New York: Putnam, pp.281304. ISBN
1-58542-006-9
Ducher, William (1894): The Labrador Duck another specimen, with additional data respecting extant
specimens. Auk 11: 4-12. PDF fulltext (http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v011n01/p0004-p0012.pdf)
Forbush, Edward Howe (1912): A History of the Game Birds, Wild-Fowl and Shore Birds of Massachusetts and
Adjacent States. Boston: Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, pp.411416.
Fuller, Errol (2001): Extinct Birds, Comstock Publishing, ISBN 0-8014-3954-X, pp.8587.
Madge, Steve & Burn, Hilary (1988): Waterfowl. An identification guide to the ducks, geese and swans of the
world. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, pp.265266. ISBN 0-395-46727-6

External links
BirdLife Species Factsheet (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.
asp&sid=488&m=0)
IUCN Red List (http://www.redlist.org/search/details.php?species=3722)
The Labrador Duck from John James Audubon's Birds of America (http://www.abirdshome.com/Audubon/
VolVI/00665.html)
Environment Canada (http://www.qc.ec.gc.ca/faune/oiseaux_menaces/html/eider_labrador_e.html)
Swans, Geese, and Ducks of Canada (http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Birds/MSS/Anglais/
elabrado.htm)
Marine Extinction Database (http://www.uea.ac.uk/bio/people/faculty/reynoldslab/extinction_tableB.htm)
University of East Anglia, UK
3D view (http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=52) of specimens RMNH 110.083 and RMNH
110.084 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin)

42

Laughing Owl

43

Laughing Owl
Laughing Owl

Live S. a. albifacies specimen photographed between 1889 and 1910

Conservation status

Extinct (1914? (but might be drastically endangered)) (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Strigiformes

Family:

Strigidae

Genus:

Sceloglaux
Kaup, 1848

Species:

S. albifacies
Binomial name
Sceloglaux albifacies
(Gray GR, 1845)
Subspecies

S. a. albifacies
(South Island Laughing Owl)
S. a. rufifacies
(North Island Laughing Owl)

The Laughing Owl (Sceloglaux albifacies), also known as Whkau or the White-faced Owl, was an endemic owl
found in New Zealand in 1840, but is now extinct. It was plentiful when European settlers arrived in New Zealand.
Specimens were sent to the British Museum, where a scientific description was published in 1845. The species
belongs to the monotypic genus Sceloglaux ("scoundrel owl", probably because of the mischievous-sounding calls).

Laughing Owl

44

Description

S. a. albifacies by John Gerrard

Keulemans, drawn after living
specimens owned by Walther
Rothschild

The Laughing Owl's plumage was yellowish-brown striped with dark brown.
There were white straps on the scapulars, and occasionally the hind neck. Mantle
feathers were edged with white. The wings and tail had light brown bars. The
tarsus had yellowish to reddish-buff feathers. The facial disc was white behind
and below the eyes, fading to grey with brown stripes towards the centre. Some
birds were more rufous, with a brown facial disk; this was at first attributed to
subspecific differences, but is probably better related to individual variation.
There are indications that males were more often of the richly colored morph
(e.g. the Linz specimen OLM 1941/433). The eyes were very dark orange. Its
length was 35.540cm (14-15.7") and wing length 26.4cm (10.4"), with males
being smaller than females. Weight was around 600grams.

Vocalizations

The call of the Laughing Owl has been described as "a loud cry made up of a
series of dismal shrieks frequently repeated". The species was given its name because of this sound. Other
descriptions of the call were: "A peculiar barking noise ... just like the barking of a young dog"; "Precisely the same
as two men "cooeying" to each other from a distance"; "A melancholy hooting note", or a high-pitched chattering,
only heard when the birds were on the wing and generally on dark and drizzly nights or immediately preceding rain.
Various whistling, chuckling and mewing notes were observed from a captive bird.
Buller (1905) mentions the testimony of a correspondent who claimed that Laughing Owls would be attracted by
accordion play. Given that recorded vocalizations are an effective means to attract owls, and given the similarity of a
distant accordion's tune to the call of the Laughing Owl as reported, it is apparent that the method might have
worked.

Distribution and subspecies

S. a. rufifacies

In the North Island, specimens of the smaller subspecies rufifacies were allegedly
collected from the forest districts of Mount Taranaki/Egmont (1856) and the
Wairarapa (1868); the unclear history of the latter and the eventual disappearance
of both led to suspicions that the bird may not have occurred on the North Island
at all. This theory has been refuted, however, after ample subfossil bones of the
species were found in North Island. Sight records exist from Porirua and Te
Karaka; according to Mori tradition, the species last occurred in Te Urewera. In
the South Island, the larger subspecies albifacies inhabited low rainfall districts,
including Nelson, Canterbury and Otago. They were also found in the central
mountains and possibly Fiordland. Specimens of S. a. albifacies were collected
from Stewart Island/Rakiura in or around 1881.

Trevor H. Worthy (1997) records 57 body and 17 egg specimens in public

collections. He concluded that the only ones of these that may be the missing type of rufifacies were NHMW 50.809
or that of the Universidad de Concepcin. Greenway (1967) mentions specimens at Cambridge, Massachusetts
(probably Harvard Museum of Natural History) and Edinburgh (Royal Museum) that seem to be missing in Worthy's
summary.

Laughing Owl

45

Ecology and behaviour

The Laughing Owl generally occupied rocky, low rainfall areas. It was also found in forest districts on the North
Island. Their diet was diverse, encompassing a wide range of prey items, from beetles and weta up to birds and
geckos of more than 250grams, and later on rats and mice. Laughing Owls were apparently ground feeders, chasing
prey on foot in preference to hunting on the wing. Knowledge on their diet, and how that diet changed over time, is
preserved in fossil and sub-fossil deposits of their pellets. These pellets have been a boon to the paleobiological
research of New Zealand's late Pleistocene and Holocene animal communities, creating concentrations of otherwise
poorly preserved small bones: "Twenty-eight species of bird, a tuatara, 3 frogs, at least 4 geckos, 1 skink, 2 bats, and
2 fish contribute to the species diversity" found in a Gouland Downs roosting site's pellets.[2]
The owls' diet generally reflected the communities of small animals in
the area, taking prions (small seabirds) where they lived near colonies,
Coenocorypha snipe, kakariki and even large earthworms. Once
Pacific Rats were introduced to New Zealand and began to reduce the
number of native prey items the Laughing Owl was able to switch to
eating them instead. They were still therefore relatively common when
European settlers arrived. Being quite large, they were also able to deal
with the introduced European rats that had caused the extinction of so
much of their prey; however, the stoats introduced to control feral
rabbits, and feral cats were too much for the species.

Juvenile S. a. albifacies photographed around

1909

Individuals of a bird louse of the genus Strigiphilus were found to

parasitize Laughing Owls (Pilgrim & Palma, 1982).

Reproduction
Breeding began in September or October. The nests were lined with dried grass and were on bare ground, in rocky
ledges, fissures or under boulders. Two white, roundish eggs were laid, measuring 44-51 x 3843mm (1.7-2" x
1.5-1.7"). Incubation took 25 days, with the male feeding the female on the nest.

Extinction

Illustration from 1844

By 1880, the species was becoming rare, and the last recorded specimen was
found dead at Bluecliffs Station in Canterbury, New Zealand on July 5, 1914
(Worthy, 1997). There have been unconfirmed reports since then; the last
(unconfirmed) North Island records were in 1925 and 1927, at the Wairaumoana
branch of Lake Waikaremoana (St. Paul & McKenzie, 1977; Blackburn, 1982).
In his book The Wandering Naturalist, Brian Parkinson describes reports of a
Laughing Owl in the Pakahi near Opotiki in the 1940s. An unidentified bird was
heard flying overhead and giving "a most unusual weird cry which might almost
be described as maniacal" at Saddle Hill, Fiordland, in February 1956
(Hall-Jones, 1960), and Laughing Owl egg fragments were apparently found in
Canterbury in 1960 (Williams & Harrison, 1972).

Extinction was caused by persecution (mainly for specimens), land use changes, and the introduction of predators
such as cats and stoats. It was generally accepted until the late 20th century that the species' disappearance was due
to competition by introduced predators for the kiore, or pacific rat, a favorite prey of the Laughing Owl (an idea
originally advanced by Walter Buller). However, since the kiore is itself an introduced animal, the Laughing Owl

Laughing Owl
originally preyed on small birds, reptiles and bats, and later probably utilized introduced mice as well. Direct
predation on this unwary and gentle-natured bird seems much more likely to have caused the species' extinction. A
comprehensive review of the species' decline and disappearance is presented by Williams & Harrison (1972).

References
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Sceloglaux albifacies" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/ details/ 106002315). IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 16 July 2012.
[2] Worthy, 2001

Blackburn, A. (1982): A 1927 record of the Laughing Owl. Notornis 29(1): 79. PDF fulltext (http://notornis.
osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_29_1.pdf)
Buller, Walter L. (1905): Supplement to the 'Birds of New Zealand' (2 volumes). Published by the author, London.
Fuller, Errol (2000): Extinct Birds (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. ISBN 0-19-850837-9
Greenway, James C., Jr. (1967): Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World, 2nd edition: 346-348. Dover, New
York. QL676.7.G7
Hall-Jones, John (1960): Rare Fiordland birds. Notornis 8(7): 171-172. PDF fulltext (http://notornis.osnz.org.
nz/system/files/Notornis_8_7.pdf)
Lewis, Deane P. (2005): The Owl Pages: Laughing Owl Sceloglaux albifacies (http://www.owlpages.com/
owls.php?genus=Sceloglaux&species=albifacies). Revision as of 2005-04-30.
Pilgrim, R. L. C. & Palma, R. L. (1982): A list of the chewing lice (Insecta: Mallophaga) from birds in New
Zealand. Notornis 29(Supplement): 1-33. PDF fulltext (http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/
Notornis_29_sup.pdf)
St. Paul, R. & McKenzie, H. R. (1977): A bushman's seventeen years of noting birds. Part F (Conclusion of
series) - Notes on other native birds. Notornis 24(2): 6574. PDF fulltext (http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/
files/Notornis_24_2.pdf)
Williams, G. R. & Harrison, M. (1972): The Laughing Owl Sceloglaux albifacies (Gray. 1844): A general survey
of a near-extinct species. Notornis 19(1): 4-19. PDF fulltext (http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/
Notornis_19_1.pdf)
Worthy, Trevor H. (1997): A survey of historical Laughing Owl (Sceloglaux albifacies) specimens in museum
collections. Notornis 44(4): 241252. PDF fulltext (http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/
Notornis_44_4_241.pdf)
Worthy, Trevor H. (2001): A fossil vertebrate fauna accumulated by laughing owls (Sceloglaux albifacies) on the
Gouland Downs, northwest Nelson, South Island. Notornis 48(4): 223-233. PDF fulltext (http://notornis.osnz.
org.nz/system/files/Notornis_48_4_224.pdf)
Worthy, Trevor H. & Holdaway, Richard N. (2002): The Lost World of the Moa. Indiana University Press,
Bloomington. ISBN 0-253-34034-9

46

Laughing Owl

External links
3D view (http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=57) of specimens RMNH 110.069 and RMNH
110.070 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).
Olliver, Narena. 2000. " Whekau, The Laughing Owl (http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/whekau.html)".
NZbirds.com
Images of Laughing Owls (http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search.aspx?term=Laughing Owl) in the
collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust (http://www.wingspan.co.nz/
extinct_birds_of_prey_new_zealand_laughing_owl.html)

47

Laysan Rail

48

Laysan Rail
Laysan Rail

1913 photograph of live specimen by Alfred M. Bailey

Conservation status

Extinct (1944) (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Gruiformes

Family:

Rallidae

Genus:

Porzana

Species:

P. palmeri
Binomial name
Porzana palmeri
(Frohawk, 1892)
Synonyms

Porzanula palmeri
The Laysan Rail or Laysan Crake (Porzana palmeri) was a tiny inhabitant of the Northwest Hawaiian Island of
Laysan. This small island was and still is an important seabird colony, and sustained a number of endemic species,
including the rail. It became extinct due to habitat loss by domestic rabbits, and ultimately World War II. Its
scientific name honours Henry Palmer, who collected in the Hawaiian Islands for Walter Rothschild.

Laysan Rail

49

Description and distribution

It was a small bird (15-centimetre (in) from beaktip to "tail" tip, fully
stretched out), a flightless member of the rail family. Tail and wings
had been reduced in the course of its evolution to lengths of merely 2.5
centimetres (in) and 5.4 centimetres (in), respectively, and it only had
8 primaries as opposed to 10 in volant rails. The bill, measuring 1.8
centimetres (in), was strong and straight, and the legs were also
well-developed; in its overall proportions it was similar to the small
rails of the genus Laterallus, such as the Black Rail.
Footage of live Laysan Rails from 1923

Its coloration was essentially a lighter, more subdued version of that of

the Baillon's Crake, a closely related species from which it possibly
had evolved. The face, throat, breast and supercilium were dull medium gray, and the back, wings and top of the
head were pale brown with strongly contrasting feather shafts except on the wings. Scapular (shoulder) and flank
plumage were sandy brown. The characteristic black-and-white barring of the lower belly and undertail coverts often
seen in the genera Porzana and Rallus was much reduced. Feet and bill were a yellowish-olive green, and the iris
was ruby red. The sexes were alike; downy young were black all over, with conspicuously long dark legs and a
yellow bill, and immature birds had the entire underside colored pale brown.
It was endemic to Laysan (although an introduced population was present on Midway Atoll for some decades early
in the 20th century); some authors have noted that there were tales of flightless rails on other Hawaiian islands, but
they refer to local forms extinct before Western contact. A supposed early record from Lisianski Island might more
likely refer to migrant rails, or alternatively to a distinct species that evolved in parallel to the Laysan Rail; however,
given the barrenness of Lisianski and the lack of material evidence (Olson & Ziegler, 1995), this is quite unlikely.

Ecology and habits

The Laysan Rail was an opportunist that fed mainly on invertebrates
such as moths, Neoscatella sexnotata (brine flies), blowflies, and their
larvae; plant leaves, seeds, and eggs and carcasses of seabirds were
eaten when they were available. It was an aggressive bird that would
fight off other species, particularly the Laysan Finch: the latter is very
adept at breaking open seabird's eggs to consume the contents, while
the rail was much less so. Consequently, rails would linger around in
the seabird colony, be on the lookout for finches which had just
cracked
open an egg, chase these away, and consume the egg's
Illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans
contents. On Midway, the rails were seen to steal food from domestic
chicken (Olson, 1996). There exists no permanent source of freshwater on Laysan, and while the rails must have
been able to cover their needs from the body fluids of prey and the content of eggs, they would eagerly drink from
and bathe in pools of water remaining after heavy rain, or a pan of water provided by an observer.

Laysan Rail

Although it was flightless, it would use its wings to assist in keeping

balance when running quickly and jumping; this way, they were able to
make jumps of somewhat less than 1 metre (ft). They were nimble and
restless, retreating to the tussocks to avoid predators, but chiefly to
escape the mid-day heat; if they felt threatened, they often hid in the
burrows of petrels. The birds were most active in the open in the
morning and afternoon hours, but it could regularly be seen all day and
heard calling at night. Laysan Rails had no natural enemies apart from
occasional predation by frigatebirds; all reports remarked upon its
Laysan Rail feeding on a seabird's egg.
fearlessness, and if an observer stood still, rails would approach and
even climb over him to search for scraps of food. One bird, removed from its nest in an attempt to photograph the
eggs, would immediately return to protect her clutch. The species was somewhat territorial, more so during the
breeding season. On Laysan, carrying capacity was reached at 1013 square metres (unknown operator:
u'['unknown operator: u'['unknown operator: u'['unknown operator: u'[') of habitat per bird, while on
Midway, population density was one-fourth of this figure; in captivity, an enclosure of roughly 8 square metres
(sqft) was sufficient for two pairs, but introducing more birds into this space would lead to fights.

Vocalizations
When active, Laysan Rails would ever so often stand still and utter one to three soft warbling chirps. In courtship or
territorial defense (reports are not clear, but probably the latter) two birds would stand opposing each other, fluffing
up their plumage, and give rattling, scolding calls not unlike a mechanical alarm clock (Udvardy, 1996). Soon after
dusk, the entire population could be heard to engage in a brief bout of vocalization, which Frohawk (1892) described
as sounding like
"[...]a handful or two of marbles being thrown on a glass roof and then descending in a succession of
bounds."
Downy young would vocalize a lot, and their calls were rather loud in proportion to their tiny size.

Reproduction
On Laysan, courtship and the start of nest-building was in April, with
eggs being laid from May to June and the height of the nesting season
taking place in June and July; there is a report of recently-hatched
young birds from Midway in March, but this seems to be unusually
early. On Laysan, nests were built in tussocks of endemic Cyperus
pennatiformis subsp. bryanii, kwelu (Eragrostis variabilis) and
introduced Bermuda Grass (Cynodon dactylon) around the lagoon,
while on Midway, it nested in any shelter that seemed convenient, such
as naupaka kahakai (Scaevola taccada ) thickets and phuehue
(Ipomoea
pes-caprae subsp. brasiliensis) stands. The nests were placed
Breeding Laysan Rail
on the ground or inside the base of a tussock; in the latter case the birds
would rearrange the dried dead leaves to form a roofed cavity reached through a small tunnel some 15 centimetres
(in) long. Nests were lined with soft dried plant material and down of seabirds.
The clutch consisted of 3 or less frequently two eggs (as opposed to some 5-10 for related continental rails). These
were oval without being conspicuously more rounded on one end, measuring 31 x 21mm and being pale olive buff
in base color, irregularly marked all over in pale raw sienna or purplish grey. The sexes mated either for life or for an
entire breeding season and shared incubation duties, although females seem to have spent more time incubating than

50

Laysan Rail

51

males.
The young hatched after approximately 20 days of incubation (perhaps somewhat
less; in related species it is usually 1620 days) and were tended for by both
parents for about one month. Five days after hatching, the young were able to run
as quickly as adults. Hadden (1941) described a three-day-old chick as follows:
"A black velvet marble rolling along the ground. Its little feet and
legs are so small and move so fast that they can hardly be seen."

Extinction
Laysan is considered one of the most important seabird colonies in the United
States. It has thousands of Black-footed Albatross, Laysan Albatross as well as
shearwaters and terns. The island also held 5 unique (sub)species of land- and
waterbirds, including the Laysan Rail. The extinction of this species is
particularly unfortunate as it could have easily been avoided.

Laysan Rail eggs

The rail was initially threatened when domestic rabbits were introduced to Laysan. With no predators to control their
numbers the rabbits soon ate the entire vegetation cover on the island. This turned the island into a barren dust bowl,
sending the Laysan Millerbird and the Laysan Apapane (both subspecies endemic to the island) to extinction; the
Laysan Finch and Laysan Duck both managed to survive. In the 1900s, when destruction of the vegetation by the
rabbits had only just started, the rail's population was around 2000 mature birds and at carrying capacity; it remained
so until at least the early 1910s, but declined thereafter. In 1923, only two birds could be found on Laysan, and of
eight that were on that occasion brought from Midway, at least two died almost immediately from lack of food and
shelter (Olson, 1996). The species is believed to have become extinct on Laysan during 1923, probably mainly
because no habitat for nesting was left in sufficient quantity to maintain the population. The last rail was seen on
Eastern Island in Midway in June 1944. (Raozon, 2001).

References
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Porzana palmeri" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/ details/ 106002902). IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 16 July 2012.

Baldwin, Paul H. (1947): The Life History of the Laysan Rail. Condor 49(1): 14-21. PDf fulltext (http://elibrary.
unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v049n01/p0014-p0021.pdf)
Frohawk, Frederick William (1892): Description of a new species of rail from Laysan Island (North Pacific).
Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9: 247-249.
Fuller, Errol (2000): Extinct Birds (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. ISBN 0-19-850837-9
Hadden, F. C. (1941): Midway Islands. Hawaiian Planters' Record 45: 179-221.
Lamoureux, Charles H. (1963): The flora and vegetation of Laysan Island. Atoll Research Bulletin 97: 1-14.
Hawaii.edu (http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/arb/097-100/097.pdf), PDF fulltext
Olson, Storrs L. (1996): History and ornithological journals of the Tanager expedition of 1923 to the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Johnston and Wake Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin 433: 1-210. Hawaii.edu
(http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/arb/433/433.pdf), PDF fulltext
Olson, Storrs L. & Ziegler, A. C. (1995): Remains of land birds from Lisianski Island, with observations on the
terrestrial avifauna of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Pacific Science 49: 111-125.
Udvardy, Miklos D. F. (1996): Three Months on a Coral Island (Laysan) by Hugo H. Schauinsland [1899]. Atoll
Research Bulletin 432: 1-53. Hawaii.edu (http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/arb/432/432.pdf),
PDF fulltext

Laysan Rail

52

External links
UVA.nl (http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=16), 3D view of specimen RMNH 110.009 at
Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).

Lord Howe Swamphen

Lord Howe Swamphen

From Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales by John White

Conservation status

Extinct (early 19th century) (IUCN 3.1)

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Gruiformes

Family:

Rallidae

Genus:

Porphyrio

Species:

P. albus
Binomial name
Porphyrio albus
(Shaw, 1790)
Synonyms

Notornis alba
Porphyrio stanleyi
Fulica alba
Porphyrio alba
Porphyrio porphyrio albus
Notornis albus
Porphyrio raperi

Lord Howe Swamphen

53

The Lord Howe Swamphen or White Gallinule, Porphyrio albus, was a large bird in the family Rallidae endemic
to Lord Howe Island, Australia.[1] It was similar to the Purple Swamphen, but with shorter and more robust legs and
toes. Its plumage was white, sometimes with a few blue feathers, and it was probably flightless, like its other close
relative the Takahe. Similar, entirely blue birds were also described, but it is not clear if they belong to this species
or are simply Purple Swamphens (which can also be found on the island). The feathers on the two extant skins are
white.
This bird was first described by John White in his Journal of a Voyage
to New South Wales (1790),[2] which also contained an illustration. It
was not uncommon when the bird was first described, but was soon
hunted to extinction by whalers and sailors.

Illustration of several specimens, May 1788

There are two skins of the bird in existence, one in the collection of the
World Museum in Liverpool and the other in the Naturhistorisches
Museum Wien in Vienna. There are also several paintings, and some
subfossil bones.

References
[1] BirdLife International (2004). Porphyrio albus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org). Retrieved
on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as
extinct.
[2] White, John (1790), Journal of a voyage to New South Wales with sixty-five plates of
non descript animals, birds, lizards, serpents, curious cones of trees and other
natural productions (http:/ / purl. library. usyd. edu. au/ setis/ id/ p00092), London: J.
Debrett, , also at Project Gutenberg Australia (http:/ / gutenberg. net. au/ ebooks03/
0301531h. html)
Restoration by John Gerrard
Keulemans

New Zealand Quail

54

New Zealand Quail

New Zealand Quail

Conservation status

Extinct (1875) (IUCN 3.1)

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Galliformes

Family:

Phasianidae

Subfamily:

Perdicinae

Genus:

Coturnix

Species:

C. novaezelandiae
Binomial name
Coturnix novaezelandiae
Quoy & Gaimard, 1830
Synonyms

Coturnix novaezelandiae
novaezelandiae Quoy & Gaimard, 1830
The New Zealand Quail (Coturnix novaezelandiae), or koreke (the Mori name), has been extinct since 1875. The
male and female were similar, except the female was lighter. The first scientist to describe it was Sir Joseph Banks
when he visited New Zealand on James Cook's first voyage. Terrestrial and temperate, this species inhabited lowland
tussock grassland and open fernlands.[1] The first specimen was collected in 1827 by Jean Ren Constant Quoy and
Joseph Paul Gaimard on Dumont D'Urville's voyage. It has sometimes been considered conspecific with the
Australian Stubble Quail, which would then be named Coturnix novaezelandiae pectoralis as it was only
scientifically described after the New Zealand birds were.
Research was conducted between 2007 and 2009 into whether the quails on Tiritiri Matangi Island which was
spared the worst impact of introduced predators might a surviving population of this species, or koreke-Brown

New Zealand Quail

55

Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora) hybrids.[2] This two year genetic study showed instead that the quail on Tiritiri
Matangi are Australian Brown Quail, Coturnix ypsilophora.[3] Sequences were derived for all quail species within
the Australian and New Zealand Coturnix sp. complex. A neighbour-joining phylogenetic distance tree was
constructed in PAUP4 with 1000 bootstrap replications to determine the strength of groupings. The sequences used
for the tree were derived from 3 separate mitochondrial control region sequences. This tree analysis also showed a
close phylogenetic relationship between the New Zealand quail Coturnix novaezelandiae and the Australian stubble
quail Coturnix pectoralis, but confirmed that they are separate species.[4]

Illustration

Restoration of the Chatham Rail and the New Zealand Quail from
1907

References
[1] (http:/ / animaldiversity. ummz. umich. edu/ site/ accounts/ information/ Coturnix_novaezelandiae. html), Pappas, J. 2002. "Coturnix
novaezelandiae", Animal Diversity Web.
[2] NZ quail may not be extinct say scientists after Haurauki Gulf island discovery (http:/ / www. massey. ac. nz/ massey/ about-massey/ news/
article. cfm?mnarticle=nz-quail-may-not-be-extinct-say-scientists-after-haurauki-gulf-island-discovery-24-03-2007), Massey News, 24 March
2007.
[3] Scientists nail quail mystery Tiri quails found to be Aussie imports (http:/ / www. massey. ac. nz/ massey/ about-massey/ news/ article.
cfm?mnarticle=tiri-quails-found-to-be-aussie-imports-23-10-2009), Massey News, 23 October 2009.
[4] Seabrook-Davison, M.; Huynen, L.; Lambert, D.M.; and Brunton D.H. (2009). Ancient DNA Resolves Identity and Phylogeny of New
Zealand's Extinct and Living Quail (Coturnix sp.). PLoS ONE 4(7), e6400. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006400.

External links
Koreke, the New Zealand Quail (http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/koreke.html) (with pictures, article,
taxonomy, & description).
3D view (http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=46) of specimens RMNH 110.051 and RMNH
110.052 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).
New Zealand Quail / Koreke. Coturnix novaezelandiae (http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/imagepopup.
aspx?width=640&height=640&irn=40960&mode=zoom&title=New+Zealand+Quail+/+Koreke.+
Coturnix+novaezelandiae.+From+the+series:+Extinct+Birds+of+New+Zealand.&ack=+Museum+
of+New+Zealand+Te+Papa+Tongarewa). by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of
New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
The Quail (male and female) Coturnix Novae Zealandie (http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.
aspx?oid=901320) by Johannes Keulemans in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
New Zealand Quail (http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/imagepopup.aspx?width=640&height=640&
irn=110681&mode=zoom&title=New+Zealand+Quail+(Koreke)&ack=) by George Lodge, 1913 in the
collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Passenger Pigeon

56

Passenger Pigeon
Passenger Pigeon

Live Passenger Pigeon in 1896, kept by C.O. Whitman

Conservation status

Extinct (1914) (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Columbiformes

Family:

Columbidae

Genus:

Ectopistes
Swainson, 1827

Species:

E. migratorius
Binomial name
Ectopistes migratorius
(Linnaeus, 1766)

Passenger Pigeon

57

Distribution map, with breeding zone in red and wintering zone in orange

Synonyms

Columba migratoria Linnaeus, 1766

Columba canadensis Linnaeus, 1766
Ectopistes migratoria Swainson, 1827

The Passenger Pigeon or Wild Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is an extinct North American bird. The species
lived in enormous migratory flocks until the early 20th century, when hunting and habitat destruction led to its
demise.[2] One flock in 1866 in southern Ontario was described as being 1mi (1.5km) wide and 300mi (500km)
long, took 14 hours to pass, and held in excess of 3.5 billion birds. That number, if accurate, would likely represent a
large fraction of the entire population at the time.[3][4][5]
Some estimate 3 to 5 billion Passenger Pigeons were in the United States when Europeans arrived in North
America.[6] Others argue the species had not been common in the pre-Columbian period, but their numbers grew
when devastation of the American Indian population by European diseases led to reduced competition for food.[7]
The species went from being one of the most abundant birds in the world during the 19th century to extinction early
in the 20th century.[1] At the time, Passenger Pigeons had one of the largest groups or flocks of any animal, second
only to the Rocky Mountain locust.
Some reduction in numbers occurred from habitat loss when Europeans settlement led to mass deforestation. Next,
pigeon meat was commercialized as a cheap food for slaves and the poor in the 19th century, resulting in hunting on
a massive and mechanized scale. A slow decline between about 1800 and 1870 was followed by a catastrophic
decline between 1870 and 1890.[8] Martha, thought to be the world's last Passenger Pigeon, died on September 1,
1914, at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Passenger Pigeon is a member of the Columbidae family (pigeons and
doves) assigned to the genus Ectopistes. Earlier descriptions of the species placed
it within the genus Columba, but it was transferred to a monotypic genus due to
the greater length of the tail and wings. The fossil record of the bird stretches
back to the Pleistocene.[9][10]

Taxidermied specimen, Bird Gallery,

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

The Passenger Pigeon's closest living relative were thought to be the Zenaida
doves based on morphological grounds.[11][12][13] The Mourning Dove was even
suggested to belong to the genus Ectopistes, as E. carolinensis.[14] However,
recent genetic data show it was closer to the American Patagioenas pigeons
.[15][16] Rather than belonging (like Zenaida) to the American dove clade around
Leptotila, the DNA sequence data show Ectopistes to be part of a radiation that
includes the "typical" Old World pigeons (e.g., Domestic Pigeon Columba livia)

Passenger Pigeon

58

and the Eurasian turtledoves (Streptopelia) and Patagioenas, as well as the cuckoo-doves and relatives of the
Wallacea region and its surroundings.[17] The Passenger Pigeon was able to hybridise with the Eurasian Collared
Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) in captivity, but the offspring was infertile.[18]

Etymology
The generic epithet translates as 'wandering about', the specific indicates it is migratory; the Passenger Pigeon's
movements were not only seasonal, as with other birds, but also they would mass in whatever location was most
productive and suitable for breeding.[19]
In the 18th century, the Passenger Pigeon in Europe was known to the French as tourtre; but, in New France, the
North American bird was called tourte. In modern French, the bird is known as the pigeon migrateur.
In Algonquian languages, it was called amimi by the Lenape[20] and omiimii by the Ojibwe.[21] The term "passenger
pigeon" in English derives from the French word passager, meaning "to pass by" in a fleeting manner.[22] Jesuit
missionary Jacques Gravier's pioneering Kaskaskia-French dictionary explicitly describes and names the passenger
pigeon as mimi8a in the Kaskaskia Illinois language, said to be equivalent to tourtre in French.[23]

Description
The Passenger Pigeon was larger than a Mourning Dove and had a
body size similar to a large Rock Pigeon. The average weight of these
pigeons was 340400g (1214oz) and, per John James Audubon's
account, length was 42cm (16.5in) in males and 38cm (15in) in
females.[24] The Passenger Pigeon had a bluish-gray head and rump,
slate-gray back, and a wine-red breast. The male had black streaks on
the scapulars and wing coverts and patches of pinkish iridescence at
the sides of the neck changed in color to a shining metallic bronze,
Juvenile (left), male (center), female (right), by
green, and purple at the back of the neck in various lights. Female and
Louis Agassiz Fuertes
immature birds were similarly marked, but with duller gray on the
back, a lighter rose breast and much less iridescent necks.[25] The
wings were long and broad.[18] The tail was extremely long at 2023cm (89in) and gray to blackish with a white
edge.[26]

Behavior and ecology

The Passenger Pigeon was a very social bird. It lived in colonies stretching over
hundreds of square miles, practicing communal breeding with up to a hundred
nests in a single tree. It may have been the most numerous bird on earth in its
heyday, and A. W. Schorger believed it accounted for between 25 and 40% of
the total landbird population in the US.[27] Pigeon migration, in flocks numbering
billions, was a spectacle without parallel,[28] as described by John James
Audubon:
I dismounted, seated myself on an eminence, and began to mark with my
pencil, making a dot for every flock that passed. In a short time finding the
task which I had, undertaken impracticable, as the birds poured in
countless multitudes, I rose, and counting the dots then put down, found
Billing passenger pigeons by John
James Audubon, 1824

Passenger Pigeon

59

that 163 had been made in twenty-one minutes. I traveled on, and still met more the farther I proceeded. The
air was literally filled with Pigeons; the light of noon-day was obscured as by an eclipse, the dung fell in spots,
not unlike melting flakes of snow; and the continued buzz of wings had a tendency to lull my senses to
repose... Before sunset I reached Louisville, distance from Hardensburgh fifty-five miles. The Pigeons were
still passing in undiminished numbers, and continued to do so for three days in succession.
Their survival was thought to be based on the benefits of very large numbers.[29] There was safety in large flocks,
which often numbered hundreds of thousands of birds. When a flock of this huge size established itself in an area,
the number of local animal predators (such as wolves, foxes, weasels, and hawks) was so small compared to the total
number of birds, little damage would be inflicted on the flock as a whole. It was common for birds in flocks to perch
on each other's backs, an unusual behavior even for socially inclined birds.
The bird is believed to have played a large ecological role in the presettlement forests of North America through tree
breakage and depositing of excrement, thereby influencing the distribution of certain tree types.[30]

Diet
The mainstays of the passenger pigeon's diet were beechnuts, acorns, chestnuts, seeds, and berries found in the
forests. Worms and insects supplemented the diet in spring and summer. The pigeon was able to disgorge food from
its crop when more desirable food became available.[31]

Reproduction
The communal nesting sites were established in forest areas with a
sufficient supply of food and water available within daily flying range.
A single site might cover many thousands of acres, and the birds were
so congested in these areas, hundreds of nests could be counted in a
single tree. Since no accurate data were recorded, it is only possible to
give estimates on the size and population of these nesting areas. One
large nesting area in Wisconsin was reported as covering 850sqmi
(km2), and the number of birds nesting there was estimated to be
around 136,000,000.[32] Breeding took place from March to
September, mainly between April and May.[18]

Preserved egg - MHNT

John James Audubon described the courtship of the passenger pigeon

as:
The male assumes a pompous demeanor, and follows the female, whether on the ground or on the branches,
with spread tail and drooping wings, which it rubs against the part over which it is moving. The body is
elevated, the throat swells, the eyes sparkle. He continues his notes, and now and then rises on the wing, and
flies a few yards to approach the fugitive and timorous female. Like the domestic Pigeon and other species,
they caress each other by billing, in which action, the bill of the one is introduced transversely into that of the
other, and both parties alternately disgorge the contents of their crop by repeated efforts.[33]

Passenger Pigeon

60

Unlike the behavior described by Audubon, captive specimens did not

perform the bowing, strutting, and billing of other pigeons.[18] The
nests were loosely constructed of small sticks and twigs, and were
about a foot in diameter. A single, white, elongated egg was laid per
nesting. The incubation period was from 12 to 14 days. Both parents
shared the duties of incubating the egg and feeding the young. The
young bird was naked and blind when born, but grew and developed
rapidly. When feathered, it was similar in color to the adult female, but
One of the last passenger pigeon hatchlings, 1896
its feathers were tipped with white, giving it a scaled appearance. It
remained in the nest about 14 days, being fed and cared for by the parent birds. By this time, it had grown large and
plump and usually weighed more than either of its parents. It had developed enough to take care of itself and soon
fluttered to the ground to hunt for its food.[25]

Habitat and distribution

The time of the spring migration depended on weather conditions. Small flocks sometimes arrived in the northern
nesting areas as early as February, but the main migration occurred in March and April. The flocks would travel
massive distances, and might not return to a particular location "for decades". Traveling for hours at 60 miles per
hour meant vast ranges could be covered.[3] During summer, Passenger Pigeons lived in forest habitats throughout
North America east of the Rocky Mountains from eastern and central Canada to the northeastern United States. In
the winters, they migrated to the southern United States and occasionally to Mexico and Cuba.[34]

Causes of extinction
The extinction of the Passenger Pigeon has two major causes:
commercial exploitation of pigeon meat on a massive scale[25] and loss
of habitat.[35]
Large flocks and communal breeding made the species highly
vulnerable to hunting.[25] As the flocks dwindled in size, populations
decreased below the threshold necessary to propagate the
species.[36][37] Naturalist Paul R. Ehrlich wrote that its extinction
"illustrates a very important principle of conservation biology: it is not
always necessary to kill the last pair of a species to force it to
extinction."[2]

Hunt of a flock, depicted in 1875

Passenger Pigeon

61

Hunting
Prior to colonization, aboriginal Americans occasionally used pigeons
for meat. In the early 19th century, commercial hunters began netting
and shooting the birds to sell in city markets as food, as live targets for
trap shooting, and even as agricultural fertilizer.
Once pigeon meat became popular, commercial hunting started on a
prodigious scale. Painter John James Audubon described the
preparations for slaughter at a known pigeon-roosting site:
Few pigeons were then to be seen, but a great number of
persons, with horses and wagons, guns and ammunition, had
already established encampments on the borders. Two farmers
from the vicinity of Russelsville, distant more than a hundred
miles, had driven upwards of three hundred hogs to be fattened on the pigeons which were to be slaughtered.
Here and there, the people employed in plucking and salting what had already been procured, were seen sitting
in the midst of large piles of these birds. The dung lay several inches deep, covering the whole extent of the
roosting-place.[33]

"Passenger Pigeon Net, St. Anne's, Lower

Canada" watercolor by James Pattison Cockburn,
1829

Pigeons were shipped by the boxcar to the eastern cities. In New York
City, in 1805, a pair of pigeons sold for two cents. Slaves and servants
in 18th- and 19th-century America often saw no other meat. By the
1850s, the numbers of birds seemed to be decreasing, but still the
slaughter continued, accelerating to an even greater level as more
railroads were developed after the American Civil War.
Alcohol-soaked grain intoxicated the birds and made them easier to
kill. Smoky fires were set to nesting trees to drive them from their
nests.[38][39]

A typical game store of the 1870s

At Petoskey, Michigan, in 1878, 50,000 birds were killed each day for
nearly five months. The adult birds that survived the slaughter attempted second nestings at new sites, but were
killed by professional hunters before they had a chance to raise any young.[25] A state historical marker
commemorates the events, including the last great nesting in 1878.[40] Neltje Blanchan, in her book Birds That Hunt
and Are Hunted documented that over a million birds were exterminated at one time from a single flock.[38][41] One
hunter was reputed to have personally killed "a million birds" and earned $60,000, the equivalent of $1,000,000
today.[42] Paul Ehrlich says a "single hunter" sent three million birds to eastern cities.[2]

Loss of habitat
Another significant reason for its extinction was deforestation. The birds traveled and reproduced in prodigious
numbers, satiating predators before any substantial negative impact was made in the bird's population. As their
numbers decreased along with their habitat, the birds could no longer rely on high population density for protection.
Without this mechanism, many ecologists believe, the species could not survive.[38]

Purported coextinction
An often-cited example of coextinction is that of the Passenger Pigeon and its parasitic lice Columbicola extinctus
and Campanulotes defectus. By 2000, however, C. extinctus was rediscovered on the Band-tailed Pigeon, and C.
defectus was found to be a likely case of misidentification of the existing Campanulotes flavus.[43][44]

Passenger Pigeon

62

Attempts at preservation
In 1857, a bill was brought forth to the Ohio State Legislature seeking
protection for the Passenger Pigeon. A Select Committee of the Senate
filed a report stating, "The passenger pigeon needs no protection.
Wonderfully prolific, having the vast forests of the North as its
breeding grounds, traveling hundreds of miles in search of food, it is
here today and elsewhere tomorrow, and no ordinary destruction can
lessen them, or be missed from the myriads that are yearly
produced."[38][45]
Conservationists were ineffective in stopping the slaughter. A bill was
passed in the Michigan legislature making it illegal to net pigeons
within two miles (3km) of a nesting area, but the law was weakly
enforced. By the mid-1890s, the Passenger Pigeon almost completely
disappeared. In 1897, a bill was introduced in the Michigan legislature asking for a 10-year closed season on
Passenger Pigeons. This was a futile gesture. Similar legal measures were passed and disregarded in Pennsylvania.[2]
This was a highly gregarious species the flock could initiate courtship and reproduction only when they were
gathered in large numbers; smaller groups of Passenger Pigeons could not breed successfully, and the surviving
numbers proved too few to re-establish the species.[25] Attempts at breeding among the captive population also failed
for the same reasons. The passenger pigeon was a colonial and gregarious bird practicing communal roosting and
communal breeding and needed large numbers for optimum breeding conditions.
C.O. Whitman's aviary with passenger pigeons in
1896

By the turn of the 20th century, the last group of passenger pigeons, all
descended from the same pair, was kept by Professor Charles O. Whitman at the
University of Chicago.[46] The last attempt to breed the remaining specimens was
done by Whitman and the Cincinnati Zoo, which included attempts at making a
rock dove foster Passenger Pigeon eggs.[47] Whitman sent Martha, which was to
be the last known specimen, to Cincinnati Zoo in 1902.[48]
The extinction of the Passenger Pigeon aroused public interest in the
conservation movement, and resulted in new laws and practices which prevented
many other species from becoming extinct.[25] Naturalist Aldo Leopold paid
tribute to the vanished species in an observance held at Wyalusing State Park,
Wisconsin, which had been one of the species' social roost sites. Speaking on
May 11, 1947, Leopold remarked:
Men still live who, in their youth, remember pigeons. Trees still live who,
in their youth, were shaken by a living wind. But a decade hence only the
oldest oaks will remember, and at long last only the hills will know.[49]
Some have suggested cloning the Passenger Pigeon in the future.[50][51]

Nesting bird in Whitman's aviary,

1896

Passenger Pigeon

63

Last wild survivors

The last fully authenticated record of a wild bird was near Sargents,
Pike County, Ohio, on March 22, 1900, when the bird was killed by a
boy with a BB gun.[25][29][52] Sightings continued to be reported in the
20th century, up until 1930.[53][54][55] All sightings after the Ohio bird,
however, are unconfirmed, in spite of rewards offered for a living
specimen.[56]

Remains of the last wild Passenger Pigeon at

Cincinnati Zoo

Reports of Passenger Pigeon sightings kept coming in from Arkansas

and Louisiana, in groups of tens and twenties, until the first decade of
the 20th century.

The naturalist Charles Dury, of Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote in September

1910: "One foggy day in October 1884, at 5 a.m. I looked out of my
bedroom window, and as I looked six wild pigeons flew down and perched on the dead branches of a tall poplar tree
that stood about one hundred feet away. As I gazed at them in delight, feeling as though old friends had come back,
they quickly darted away and disappeared in the fog, the last I ever saw of any of these birds in this vicinity."[57]

Martha
On September 1, 1914, Martha, the last known Passenger Pigeon, died in the
Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati, Ohio. Her body was frozen into a block of ice and
sent to the Smithsonian Institution, where it was skinned, dissected,
photographed and mounted.[58] Currently, Martha (named after Martha
Washington) is in the museum's archived collection, and not on display.[25][59] A
memorial statue of Martha stands on the grounds of the Cincinnati
Zoo.[5][60][61][62][63]
John Herald, a bluegrass singer wrote a song dedicated to Martha, titled "Martha:
Last of the passenger pigeons". The song tells the story about the Passenger
Pigeon's extinction and Martha's life in her cage in Cincinnati Zoo.[64]

Bibliography
Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon

Footnotes
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Ectopistes migratorius" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/ details/ 106002553). IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 16 July 2012.
[2] Ehrlich, Paul R.; Dobkin, David S.; Wheye, Darryl (1988). "The Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / www. stanford. edu/ group/ stanfordbirds/ text/
essays/ Passenger_Pigeon. html). Stanford University. . Retrieved March 3, 2012.
[3] Sullivan, Jerry; Sutton, Bobby (Illustrator); Cronon, William (Foreword) (April 2004). "The Passenger Pigeon: Once There Were Billions"
(http:/ / www. press. uchicago. edu/ Misc/ Chicago/ 779939pass. html). Hunting for Frogs on Elston, and Other Tales from Field & Street
(Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press): 210-113. ISBN978-0-226-77993-5. . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[4] The American Ornithologists' Union meeting in 1909 included a report on how to determine whether the passenger pigeon was extinct, and a
reward of $1,200 was offered for proof of even a single nest.Stukel, Eileen Dowd. "Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / gfp. sd. gov/ wildlife/ critters/
birds/ passenger-pigeon. aspx). South Dakota Game Fish & Parks. . Retrieved March 2, 2012. "Three Hundred Dollars Reward; Will Be Paid
for a Nesting Pair of Wild Pigeons, a Bird So Common in the United States Fifty Years Ago That Flocks in the Migratory Period Frequently
Partially Obscured the Sun from View. How America Has Lost Birds of Rare Value and How Science Plans to Save Those That Are Left."
(http:/ / query. nytimes. com/ gst/ abstract. html?res=F70813FD3A5D16738DDDAF0994D9405B808DF1D3). New York Times. January 16,
1910 Sunday. . "Unless the State and Federal Governments come to the rescue of American game, plumed, and song birds, the not distant

Passenger Pigeon
future will witness the practical extinction of some of the most beautiful and valuable species. Already the snowy heron, that once swarmed in
immense droves over the United States, is gone, a victim of the greed and cruelty of milliners whose "creations" its beautiful nuptial feathers
have gone to adorn." However, the proffered reward was increased on April 4, 1910 to $3,000.00. "Reward for Wild Pigeons. Ornithologists
Offer $3,000 for the Discovery of Their Nests" (http:/ / query. nytimes. com/ mem/ archive-free/
pdf?res=9D07E3D71430E233A25757C0A9629C946196D6CF). Boston, Massachusetts: The New York Times. April 4, 1910, Monday. .
Retrieved February 29, 2012. The Cincinnati Zoo upped the offer to $15,000 for finding a mate for Martha. "Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / www.
si. edu/ Encyclopedia_SI/ nmnh/ passpig. htm). si.edu. Smithsonian Institution. March 2001. . Retrieved October 28, 2011.
[5] "Martha, the World's Last Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / blogs. smithsonianmag. com/ aroundthemall/ 2011/ 09/
martha-the-worlds-last-passenger-pigeon/ ). smithsonianmag.com. Smithsonian Magazine. September 1, 2011. . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
All of these rewards went unclaimed.
[6] "The Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / www. si. edu/ Encyclopedia_SI/ nmnh/ passpig. htm). Encyclopedia Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institution.
March, 2001. . Retrieved February 28, 2012. estimated this species once constituted 25 to 40% of the total bird population of the United
States. It is estimated that there were 3billion to 5billion passenger pigeons at the time Europeans discovered America.
[7] "Prior to 1492, this was a rare species." Mann, Charles C. (2005). "The Artificial Wilderness". 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before
Columbus. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp.315318. ISBN1-4000-4006-X.
[8] "Passenger Pigeon Timeline" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20110721113905/ http:/ / www. sciencenetlinks. com/ pdfs/ pigeons1_actsheet.
pdf) (pdf). Science NetLinks. July 21, 2011. . Retrieved February 29, 2012. at Wayback machine
[9] Howard, Condor 39: 12, 1937
[10] R. M. Chandler. 1982. A second Pleistocene passenger pigeon from California. Condor 82:242
[11] "Facts, Save The Doves" (http:/ / www. savethedoves. org/ facts. html). Songbird Protection Coalition. . Retrieved 2012-02-29.
[12] Miller, Wilmer J. (January 16, 1969). "The Biology and natural history of the Mourning Dove" (http:/ / www. ringneckdove. com/ Wilmer's
WebPage/ mourning__doves. htm). Should doves be hunted in Iowa?. Ames Iowa Audubon Society, Ringneckdove.com. . Retrieved February
29, 2012.
[13] The Mourning Dove in Missouri (http:/ / mdc. mo. gov/ nathis/ birds/ doves/ ). Mdc.mo.gov. Retrieved on 2011-12-18.
[14] American ornithology: or, The natural history of the birds of the United States, Alexander Wilson et al. 1831
[15] Stauffer, L. Brian (2010-10-06). "Long-Extinct Passenger Pigeon Finds a Place in the Family Tree" (http:/ / www. sciencedaily. com/
releases/ 2010/ 10/ 101006120134. htm). Science News, Sciencedaily.com. . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[16] Fulton, T. L.; Wagner, S. M.; Fisher, C.; Shapiro, B. (2012). "Nuclear DNA from the extinct Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
confirms a single origin of New World pigeons". Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger 194 (1): 5257.
doi:10.1016/j.aanat.2011.02.017. PMID21482085.
[17] Kevin P. Johnson, Dale H. Clayton, John P. Dumbacher, Robert C. Fleischer (2010). "The flight of the Passenger Pigeon: Phylogenetics and
biogeographic history of an extinct species". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57 (1): 455. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.05.010.
[18] Hume, J. P.; Walters, M. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: A & C Black. pp.144146. ISBN1-4081-5725-X.
[19] Atkinson, George E. (1907). "The Pigeon in Manitoba". In Mershon, W. B. The Passenger Pigeon. New York: The Outing Publishing Co.
p.188.
[20] "Extinct Birds the Lenape Knew" (http:/ / culture. delawaretribe. org/ extinctbirds. htm). Culture and History of the Delaware Tribe.
Delaware Tribe www.delawaretribe.org. . Retrieved March 2, 2012.
[21] "Omiimii" (http:/ / ojibwe. lib. umn. edu/ main-entry/ omiimii-na). Ojibwe People's Dictionary. Department of American Indian Studies,
University of Minnesota. . Retrieved March 2, 2012.
[22] "passenger" (http:/ / etymonline. com/ ?term=passenger). On line etymology dictionary. . Retrieved March 2, 2012.
[23] Costa, David J.; Wolfart, H.C., ed. (2005). "The St. Jrme Dictionary of Miami-Illiniois" (http:/ / www. myaamiaproject. org/ documents/
costa_biblio/ st_jerome_dictionary_costa. pdf) (pdf). Papers of the 36th Algonquian Conference. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba.
pp.107133. . Retrieved March 7, 2012. at 115.
[24] NFC: Passenger Pigeon in my non fish conservation posts :0 (http:/ / fins. actwin. com/ nanf/ month. 9811/ msg00343. html).
Fins.actwin.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-18.
[25] Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History in cooperation with the Public Inquiry Mail Service (March, 2001).
"The Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / www. si. edu/ Encyclopedia_SI/ nmnh/ passpig. htm). Encyclopedia Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institution. .
Retrieved February 28, 2012.
[26] "Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / www. wbu. com/ chipperwoods/ photos/ passpigeon. htm). Wild Birds Unlimited, Wbu.com. 1914-09-01. .
Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[27] The Passenger Pigeon: Its History and Extinction, A. W. Schorger 1955
[28] "Learn about the Extinct Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / www. birds. cornell. edu/ pigeonwatch/ resources/ passenger-pigeon). Project Pigeon
Watch. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2012. . Retrieved March 2, 2012.
[29] "Passenger Pigeons: The Extinction of a Species" (http:/ / www. wisconsinhistory. org/ whi/ feature/ passengerpigeons/ ). Wisconsin
Historical Society. . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[30] Ellsworth, J. W.; McComb, B. C. (2003). "Potential Effects of Passenger Pigeon Flocks on the Structure and Composition of Presettlement
Forests of Eastern North America". Conservation Biology 17 (6): 1548. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2003.00230.x.
[31] Fuller, Errol (2001). Extinct Birds (revised ed.). Comstock. ISBN 0-8014-3954-X., pp. 9697

64

Passenger Pigeon
[32] "The Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame: Passenger Pigeons" (http:/ / www. wchf. org/ tour. html). Wisconsin Conservation Hall of
Fame. . Retrieved March 3, 2012.
[33] Audubon, John James. On The Passenger Pigeon (http:/ / www. ulala. org/ P_Pigeon/ Audubon_Pigeon. html). Ulala.org. . Retrieved
February 29, 2012.
[34] Stukel, Eileen Dowd. "Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / gfp. sd. gov/ wildlife/ critters/ birds/ passenger-pigeon. aspx). South Dakota Game Fish &
Parks. . Retrieved March 2, 2012.
[35] "Pigeon Facts Historical*Comical*Absurd" (http:/ / australianavianresearchorganization. com/ page13. html). Australian Avian Research
Organization. . Retrieved 29 February 2012.
[36] "Passenger Pigeon, The Extinction Website" (http:/ / extinct. petermaas. nl/ ). The Sixth Extinction. Extinct.petermaas.nl.. . Retrieved
February 29, 2012.
[37] Halliday, T. (1980). "The extinction of the passenger pigeon ectopistes migratorius and its relevance to contemporary conservation".
Biological Conservation 17 (2): 157. doi:10.1016/0006-3207(80)90046-4.
[38] "Endangered Species Handbook" (http:/ / www. endangeredspecieshandbook. org/ dinos_eastern. php) (pdf). Animal Welfare Institute.
1983. . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[39] "Iowas Wildlife Resource Base" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20101019072119/ http:/ / www. iowadnr. gov/ education/ wldresbs. html).
iowadnr.gov. October 19, 2010. . Retrieved February 29, 2012. at Wayback Machine
[40] "Last Great Gathering of Passenger Pigeons, Crooked Lake Nesting Colony" (http:/ / www. ulala. org/ P_Pigeon/ Petosky. html). Petoskey,
Michigan: Michigan state historical marker. . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[41] Neltje, Blanchan (1865-1918) (1898) (pdf). Birds that hunt and are hunted (http:/ / www. ebooksread. com/ authors-eng/ neltje-blanchan/
birds-that-hunt-and-are-hunted-life-histories-of-one-hundred-and-seventy-birds--ala/
1-birds-that-hunt-and-are-hunted-life-histories-of-one-hundred-and-seventy-birds--ala. shtml). New York: Doubleday & McClure Co. pp.359.
.
[42] "Was Martha the last "Pigean de passage"? lifeofbirds.com" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20071009155102/ http:/ / lifeofbirds. com/
2007/ 01/ 06/ was-martha-the-last-pigeon-de-passage/ ). Life of birds. January 6, 2007. . Retrieved February 29, 2012. at Wayback Machine
[43] Clayton, D. H., and R. D. Price (1999). "Taxonomy of New World Columbicola (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) from the Columbiformes
(Aves), with descriptions of five new species" (http:/ / darwin. biology. utah. edu/ PubsHTML/ PDF-Files/ 42. pdf). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am.
92: 675685. .
[44] Price, R.D., D. H. Clayton, R. J. Adams, J. (2000). "Pigeon lice down under: Taxonomy of Australian Campanulotes (Phthiraptera:
Philopteridae), with a description of C. durdeni n.sp. Parasitol." (http:/ / darwin. biology. utah. edu/ PubsHTML/ PDF-Files/ 47. pdf).
American Society of Parasitologists 86 (5): 948950. .
[45] Hornaday, William T. (1913). Our Vanishing Wild Life. Its Extermination and Preservation (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ files/ 13249/
13249-h/ 13249-h. htm). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. . Retrieved February 29, 2012. at Project Gutenberg.
[46] Rothschild, Walter (1907). Extinct Birds (http:/ / www. archive. org/ download/ extinctbirdsatte00roth/ extinctbirdsatte00roth. pdf). London:
Hutchinson & Co. .
[47] d'Elia, J. (2010). "Evolution of Avian Conservation Breeding with Insights for Addressing the Current Extinction Crisis". Journal of Fish
and Wildlife Management 1 (2): 189210. doi:10.3996/062010-JFWM-017.
[48] Patterns of behavior: Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and the founding of ethology, R. W. Burkhardt 2005
[49] Leopold, Aldo (1949, 1989). A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There. New York: Oxford University Press. p.109.
ISBN0-19-505928-X.
[50] Mecklenborg, Theresa. "Cloning Extinct Species, Part II" (http:/ / tiger_spot. mapache. org/ Biology/ extinct2. html).
Tiger_spot.mapache.org. . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[51] "De-extinction projects now under way" (http:/ / rare. longnow. org/ projects. html). The Long Now Foundation. . Retrieved October 12,
2012.
[52] The date of March 24 was given in the report by Henniger, but many discrepancies with the actual circumstances meant he was writing from
hearsay. A curator's note, apparently derived from an old specimen label, has March 22.
[53] Howell, Arthur H. (1924). "Passenger Pigeons in Alabama" (http:/ / www. ulala. org/ P_Pigeon/ Map_files/ Alabama. html). Birds of
Alabama. p.384. . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[54] McKinley, Daniel (pdf). A History Of The Passenger Pigeon In Missouri (http:/ / elibrary. unm. edu/ sora/ Auk/ v077n04/ p0399-p0420.
pdf). . Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[55] "Passenger Pigeon." (http:/ / web. ncf. ca/ bz050/ HomePage. pigeon. html). Science News Letter (Web.ncf.ca.) 17: 136. 1930. . Retrieved
February 29, 2012.
[56] "Reward for Wild Pigeons. Ornithologists Offer $3,000 for the Discovery of Their Nests" (http:/ / query. nytimes. com/ mem/ archive-free/
pdf?res=9D07E3D71430E233A25757C0A9629C946196D6CF). Boston, Massachusetts: The New York Times. April 4, 1910, Monday. .
Retrieved February 29, 2012.
[57] Dury, Charles (September 1910). "The Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / library. cincymuseum. org/ cgi-bin/ starfetch.
exe?l1Bh4rgL7nz4GWvjZqip5U9rjTiTNnHYtEyHVYuf39qDKG4. NrWryYOd3cKZPeac4CtjQ9uKqpMfLrydgvMk0QzdVdyTeFS.
Pf7MLL21lSPaSxD3mR. WCxq9DfroIM6zzYphTRB9WmnT0BUVbmhRZ7tJgaM8gWfzj@DKxCMiDyE). Journal of the Cincinnati
Society of Natural History 21: 5256. .

65

Passenger Pigeon
[58] Shufeld, R. W. (January 1915). "Anatomy of a Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / www. archive. org/ stream/ auk321915amer/
auk321915amer_djvu. txt). The Auk (Cambridge, Massachusetts: American Ornithologists' Union) XXXII (1). . Retrieved March 3, 2012. See
Archival copies of The Auk (http:/ / elibrary. unm. edu/ sora/ Auk/ ).
[59] ""Martha," The Last Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / www. mnh. si. edu/ onehundredyears/ featured_objects/ martha2. html). Smithsonian
Institution. . Retrieved 2012-02-29.
[60] "Martha - Passenger Pigeon Memorial Hut" (http:/ / www. roadsideamerica. com/ story/ 10663). Cincinnati, Ohio: Roadside America. .
Retrieved 2012-02-29.
[61] "Passenger Pigeon" (http:/ / www. si. edu/ Encyclopedia_SI/ nmnh/ passpig. htm). si.edu. Smithsonian Institution. March 2001. . Retrieved
October 28, 2011.
[62] Hahn, P. (1963). Where is that Vanished Bird? An Index to the Known Specimens of the Extinct and Near Extinct North American Species.
Royal Ontario Museum.
[63] Enright, Kelly (September 10, 2011). "Memorializing extinction: monuments to the passenger pigeon" (http:/ / kellyenright. wordpress. com/
tag/ cincinnati-zoo/ ). Cincinnati Zoo. . Retrieved March 4, 2012.
[64] Herald, John. "(Martha, last of the) Passenger Pigeons, lyrics and music" (http:/ / johnherald. com/ demos. shtml). Official John Herald
website. . Retrieved February 29, 2012.

End notes and references

Further reading
Eckert, Allan W (1965). The Silent Sky: The Incredible Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. Lincoln NE:
IUniverse.com. ISBN0-595-08963-1. (a novel)
French, John C. (1919). The Passenger Pigeon in Pennsylvania (http://www.archive.org/details/
passengerpigeoni00fren). Altoona, Pa: Altoona Tribune. Retrieved March 4, 2012. at Internet Archive.
Fuller, E. (1987). Extinct Birds. New York, NY: Facts On File Publications. pp.256.
McGee, M. J. (1910). "Notes on the Passenger Pigeon" (http://www.archive.org/stream/auk321915amer/
auk321915amer_djvu.txt). Science 32: 958964.
Mershon, W. B., ed. (1907 ). The Passenger Pigeon. Deposit, New York: Outing Press.
Price, Jennifer (2000). Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America (http://books.google.com/
books?id=CzT8o948eqMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&
f=false). Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02486-6.
Schorger, A.W. (1955) (Reprinted in paperback, 2004, by Blackburn Press). The Passenger Pigeon: Its Natural
History and Extinction. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN1-930665-96-2.
Weidensaul, Scott (1991). The Birders Miscellany. New York, NY.: Simon & Schuster. pp.135.
ISBN0-671-69505-3. ISBN 978-0-671-69505-7.
Weidensaul, Scott (1994). Mountains of the Heart: A Natural History of the Appalachians. Golden, Colorado:
Fulcrum Publishing. ISBN1-55591-143-9.

External links
Songbird Foundation: Passenger Pigeon (http://www.songbird.org/birds/extinct/passpigeon.htm)
The Extinction Website Passenger Pigeon (http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/passengerpigeon.
htm)
Passenger Pigeon Society (http://www.passengerpigeon.org/)
The Demise of the Passenger Pigeon (as broadcast on NPR's Day to Day) (http://www.npr.org/templates/
story/story.php?storyId=14722376)
3D view (http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=39) of specimens RMNH 110.048, RMNH
15707, RMNH 110.090, RMNH 110.091, RMNH 110.092, RMNH 110.093, RMNH 110.089, RMNH 110.085,
RMNH 110.086, RMNH 110.087 and RMNH 110.088 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).
"Passenger Pigeons" (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/expeditions/treasure_fossil/Treasures/
Passenger_Pigeons/pigeons.html?dinos). American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved March 3, 20123.

66

Seychelles Parakeet

67

Seychelles Parakeet
Seychelles Parakeet

Conservation status

Extinct (1883) (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Psittaciformes

Superfamily:

Psittacoidea

Family:

Psittaculidae

Subfamily:

Psittaculinae

Tribe:

Psittaculini

Genus:

Psittacula

Species:

P. wardi
Binomial name
Psittacula wardi
(E. Newton, 1867)

The Seychelles Parakeet (Psittacula wardi) occurred in the Indian ocean islands of the Seychelles group. It
resembled the Alexandrine Parakeet but was smaller and lacked the pink colour in its collar. The species is suspected
to have become extinct due to intense persecution by farmers and coconut plantation owners.

Seychelles Parakeet

68
It was endemic to Mah and Silhouette and was once sighted on Praslin. It was
rare when described even in 1867. The last specimens were collected by Warry
in 1881, and the last birds recorded in captivity on Silhouette in 1883. Ten
specimens exist today.[2] The species was extinct by 1906.

References
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Psittacula wardi" (http:/ / www. iucnredlist. org/ apps/ redlist/
details/ 106001528/ 0). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International
Union for Conservation of Nature. . Retrieved 5 July 2012.
[2] http:/ / julianhume. co. uk/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2010/ 07/ Hume-Mascarene-Parrots. pdf
Illustration from the 1700s

External links
World Parrot Trust (http://www.parrots.org/index.php/encyclopedia/
profile/seychelles_parakeet/) Parrot Encyclopedia - Species Profiles

Seychelles Parakeet at the top left

Stephens Island Wren

69

Stephens Island Wren

Stephens Island Wren

Conservation status

Extinct (1895?) (IUCN 3.1)

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Passeriformes

Suborder:

Acanthisitti

Family:

Acanthisittidae

Genus:

Xenicus

Species:

X. lyalli
Binomial name
Xenicus lyalli
(Rothschild, 1894)

The Stephens Island Wren or Lyall's Wren (Xenicus (Traversia) lyalli) was a nocturnal, flightless, insectivorous
passerine. It was driven extinct, apparently by introduced cats, around 1900.

Stephens Island Wren

70

Habitat
Historically, the species was found only on Stephens Island. Prehistorically it had been widespread throughout New
Zealand before the land was settled by the Mori.

Taxonomy
The Stephens Island Wren was long remembered in local mythos as the only known species to be entirely wiped out
by a single living being: the local lighthouse keeper's cat, named Tibbles. However, this belief was erroneous; while
this cat did kill one of the last birds seen, a few more specimens were obtained in the following years, by which time
the island also hosted numerous feral cats. The scientific name commemorates the assistant lighthouse keeper, David
Lyall, who first brought the bird to the attention of science. Originally, the bird was described as a distinct genus,
Traversia, in honor of naturalist and curio dealer Henry H. Travers who procured many specimens from Lyall, but is
currently considered to be part of the Xenicus wrens, which are not true wrens, but a similar-looking New Zealand
lineage of primitive passerines, the Acanthisittidae.
The Stephens Island wren is the best known of the extremely few (five or so) flightless passerines (songbirds) known
to science,[1] all of which were inhabitants of islands and are now extinct. The others were relatives of Xenicus and
the Long-legged Bunting from Tenerife, all of which were only discovered recently and became extinct in prehistoric
times. In addition, the Bush Wren (another acanthisittid recently extinct) and the Chatham Fernbird (an "Old World
warbler") were largely flightless.

History
Archeological work has revealed that Xenicus lyalli was widespread on
the main islands of New Zealand in earlier times. Its disappearance
from there was probably due to predation by the kiore (Polynesian Rat,
Rattus exulans), which may have been introduced by the Mori. The
presence of a flightless bird on an island separated from the mainland
by 3.2km may seem puzzling, along with the presence of Hamilton's
frog (which is killed by exposure to salt water). One possibility is that
rafts of vegetable matter allowed them to cross, although the absence
of kiore would then be surprising. Stephens Island, along with the other
islands in the Marlborough Sounds, was joined to the mainland during
the last ice age due to the lower sea level, so the native animals may
have arrived then.

Extinction
Illustration by Keulemans

Much of what is commonly assumed to be established knowledge

about this species' extinction is wrong or misinterpreted, starting with
the account by Rothschild (1905) who claimed that a single cat had killed all the birds. The research of Galbreath &
Brown (2004) and Medway (2004) has uncovered much of the actual history of the bird during the short time it was
known to researchers.
1879
Early June?: A track to the site of the proposed lighthouse site is cleared, starting the period of human activity
on the island.
1881
22 February: Marine Engineer John R. Blackett surveys the site for the proposed lighthouse.

Stephens Island Wren

71

1891
April: Preparations for the construction of the lighthouse are begun by starting to build a tramway and a
landing site for boats.
1892
April: Clearance of land for the lighthouse and the associated farm begins (3 lighthouse keepers and their
families, 17 people in total, would eventually be living on the island). The first report of the species was a note
on the island's birdlife made by the construction worker F. W. Ingram, which mentions "two kinds of wren"
(the other was probably the rifleman).
1894
29 January: The lighthouse commences working.
1720 February?: This is a likely date for introduction of cats to Stephens Island. What can be said with any
certainty is that at some time in early 1894, a pregnant cat brought to the island escaped.
June?: A cat - probably one of the young animals taken in as a pet; the name "Tibbles" is apparently
conjectural and it does not seem to have belonged to Lyall - starts to bring carcasses of a species of small bird
to the lighthouse keepers' housings. Lyall, who was interested in natural history, has one taken to Walter
Buller by A. W. Bethune, second engineer on the government steamboat NZGSS Hinemoa.
Before 25 July?: The specimen reaches Buller, who at once
recognizes it as distinct species and prepares a scientific
description, to be published in the journal Ibis. Bethune lends
Buller the specimen so it can be sent to London for the famed
artist John Gerrard Keulemans to make a lithograph plate to
accompany the description.
Winter - early spring (Southern Hemisphere): Lyall finds
several more specimens. He tells Buller about two more (but
does not send them to him), and sells nine to Travers.
9 October: Travers, who recognizes the commercial value of the
birds, sidelines Buller and offers the birds to Walter Rothschild,
who was wealthier and thus more likely to pay a high price,
further piqueing Rothschild's interest by writing, "in a short time
there will be [no "wrens"] left". Rothschild acquires his nine
specimens.
11/12 October: Edward Lukins makes a list of birds on Stephens
Island; he apparently confuses the species with the South Island
Wren.

Stephens Island Wrens (bottom right) by John

Gerrard Keulemans

19 December: Rothschild has quickly prepared a description of the bird, as Traversia lyalli, which is read by
Ernst Hartert at the British Ornithologists' Club meeting. Philip Sclater, the Club's president and editor of the
Ibis who knows of Buller's article in preparation, brings up the matter to Hartert, who says he cannot withdraw
Rothschild's description without consent.
December 29: Rothschild's description appears in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club.
1895
24 January: Travers offers Rothschild a specimen preserved in alcohol (with viscera intact) for 5 (about
415 in 2002's money: UK House of Commons Library, 2003). Rothschild apparently agrees, but never
receives the bird.
49 February: Travers and three assistants searched the island for the bird, but found none.

Stephens Island Wren

Before 11 February?: Lyall writes to Buller: "...the cats have become wild and are making sad havoc among
all the birds."
7 March: Travers supplies Rothschild with some details of the bird's habits. To his knowledge, the species had
only been seen alive twice until then. He has only been able to procure one additional specimen, brought in by
the cat as the bird was dying, which also had been preserved in alcohol.
16 March: The Christchurch newspaper The Press writes in an editorial,
"there is very good reason to believe that the bird is no longer to be found on the island, and, as it is not
known to exist anywhere else, it has apparently become quite extinct. This is probably a record
performance in the way of extermination."
April: Buller's description of Xenicus insularis appears in the Ibis. The name is immediately reduced to a
junior synonym. In the same issue, Rothschild's description is reprinted, with some additional remarks on the
bird's apparent flightlessness. The race to describe the bird sparks much animosity between the two men, and
Buller never forgives Rothschild beating him; for details and quotes, see Fuller (2000).
August: In a paper for the Wellington Philosophical Society, Buller speaks of a female bird he recently had
examined. He later purchases this specimen.
28 November: Travers informs Hartert that Lyall was not able to find more specimens during the winter, and
believes the bird to be extinct. He offers two alcohol specimens for sale, for the price of 50 apiece (nearly
4200 in 2002's money - to compare, the average lighthouse keeper's wage in 1895 was 140 a year).
December: Travers tries another search for the bird, again without success.
1896
13 May: Travers, unable to sell the birds at such a high price, now wants to sell his specimens for 12 each,
about 1000 in 2002's money.
June: Lyall gets assigned to another lighthouse and leaves Stephens Island.
31 December - 7 January or longer: Hugo H. Schauinsland collects birds on Stephens Island, but cannot find
many and no "wrens" at all. On 7 January, he collects the only specimen of the local South Island Piopio
acquired during his stay. It is the last record of these birds.
1897
31 July: The principal lighthouse keeper Patrick Henaghan requests shotguns and ammunition from the
Marine Department to destroy the "large number of cats running wild on the island."
1898
5 September: Travers writes James Hector that he has one more specimen available. At some time before this
date, he had sold Buller one specimen for Henry Baker Tristram and claimed he had two additional ones.
27 December: Travers writes to Hector, saying that Stephens Island "is now swarming with cats".
1899
1 August: The new principal lighthouse keeper, Robert Cathcart, has shot over 100 feral cats since his arrival
on 24 November 1898.
1901
Travers offers "his specimen of the Stephen's Island Wren" to the government for 35 (c. 2700 in 2002);
apparently, the bird is bought and deposited at the Colonial Museum with other skins. The collection is not
reviewed until 1904, by which time a fifth has to be discarded due to insect damage. No record is made of the
specimen since the offer, but the eventual sale's price suggests it was among the collection deposited at the
Colonial Museum.
1905

72

Stephens Island Wren

Travers sells one specimen to the Otago Museum.
Buller publishes his Supplement, in which he keeps using his name, Xenicus insularis. He furthermore quotes
an anonymous correspondent to The Press,
"And we certainly think that it would be as well if the Marine Department, in sending lighthouse keepers
to isolated islands where interesting specimens of native birds are known or believed to exist, were to
see that they are not allowed to take any cats with them, even if mouse-traps have to be furnished at the
cost of the state."
1907
Rothschild publishes his book Extinct Birds. In a remarkable breach of nil nisi bonum (especially considering
both men's social standing), it contains several acrimonious attacks on Buller, who had died the previous year.
In conclusion and considering Buller's August 1895 note, it is probable that the species was exterminated by
feral cats during the winter of 1895. Assuming the date of February 1894, for cat introduction was correct
(there were certainly cats around in the winter months of that year), the winter months of 1895 would see the
second generation of cats born on the island reaching an age where the Stephens Island wren would have made
ideal prey. Habitat destruction, sometimes given as an additional reason for the birds' disappearance, was
apparently not significant: in 1898, the island was described as heavily forested, and there was little
interference with habitat beyond the lighthouse and its associated buildings. Large-scale destruction of habitat
started in late 1903, by which time X. lyalli was certainly extinct.
1925
The last cats on the island were exterminated.

Specimens
15 specimens (excluding prehistoric bones) are now known. Additionally, there are some uncertainties suggesting
that some additional ones might have existed.
Rothschild's specimens, all of which were collected between July and October 1894:
Natural History Museum, London: three (NHM 1895.10.17.13; 1939.12.9.76; 1939.12.9.77).
American Museum of Natural History, New York City: four (AMNH AM 554502; AM 554503; AM 554504;
AM 554505).
Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia: one (ANSP 108,631).
Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts: one (MCZ 249,400).
Buller's specimens, collected at unknown dates between 1894 and 1899:
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh: one (CMNH 24639), labelled as female and dated 1894 in Buller's handwriting.
Apart from the date discrepancy, it could be the bird Buller spoke of in August 1895; possibly the specimen
was collected months before Buller had examined it. Alternatively, it could be the Bethune bird in case Buller
kept it (he initially seems to believe it to be a female), as Rothschild (1907) believed. DNA analysis could at
least clarify the bird's sex.
Canterbury Museum, Christchurch: AV917 and AV918, a pair from the collection of Buller's son, dated 1899.
They were acquired between late 1896 and 1899, but may have been collected before that date.
World Museum Liverpool: one (B 18.10.98.10). Purchased by Buller from Travers for Tristram, probably after
late 1896 (but may have been collected earlier). Sold to the museum in October 1898.
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington: one (OR.005098 [2])[3] mounted specimen without
data; may be Travers' specimen sold in 1901 or another one. This [4] photograph by Dr Paddy Ryan [5] shows the
Te Papa specimen and another one - possibly the Otago Museum bird, but the matter is not clear.
Otago Museum, Dunedin: one, but two catalog numbers (AV739 and AV7577) exist. It is not clear whether they
represent re-cataloguing of the one specimen sold by Travers in 1905, or whether a specimen was lost.

73

Stephens Island Wren

Unaccounted for (all collected in 1894 or very early in 1895):
Bethune's specimen: lent to Buller for the description, apparently later given back. If so, it was probably
deposited at the Colonial Museum (now part of Te Papa) for safekeeping between 1895 and 1897, or
Buller's female mentioned in August 1895, or even both (if neither is CMNH 24639).
two of Lyall's first three specimens (one was given to Bethune) remain unaccounted for. They may be part of
Rothschild's nine, or Buller's three. They were not in Buller's possession as of early February 1895.
Travers' "lost" specimen referred to in January 1895. It is not certain that this specimen was indeed lost; it may
have been one of the alcohol specimens mentioned in November 1895, and Travers may simply have withheld
it so he could fetch a higher price as the bird became extinct.

References
[1] Millener, 1989.
[2] http:/ / collections. tepapa. govt. nz/ objectdetails. aspx?oid=532009|MNZ
[3] "Traversia lyalli" (http:/ / collections. tepapa. govt. nz/ objectdetails. aspx?oid=532009). Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te
Papa Tongarewa. . Retrieved 18 July 2010.
[4] http:/ / www. ryanphotographic. com/ images/ JPEGS/ Stephen's%20Island%20wren. jpg
[5] http:/ / www. ryanphotographic. com/ xenicidae. htm

Buller, Walter L. (1895): Stephen Island Wren. Ibis 7(1): 236-237.

Buller, Walter L. (1905): Supplement to the 'Birds of New Zealand' (2 volumes). Published by the author, London.
Fuller, Errol (2000): Extinct Birds, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-850837-9
Galbreath, Ross & Brown, Derek (2004): The tale of the lighthouse-keeper's cat: Discovery and extinction of the
Stephens Island wren (Traversia lyalli). Notornis 51(4): 193200. PDF fulltext (http://www.notornis.org.nz/
new_issues/Notornis_51-2004/Notornis_51_4_193.pdf) (subscription required), abstract (http://www.notornis.
org.nz/abstract.php?volume_issue=n51_4&first_page=193) (freely available).
Medway, David G. (2004): The land bird fauna of Stephens Island, New Zealand in the early 1890s, and the cause
of its demise. Notornis 51(4): 201211. PDF fulltext (http://www.notornis.org.nz/new_issues/
Notornis_51-2004/Notornis_51_4_201.pdf) (subscription required), abstract (http://www.notornis.org.nz/
abstract.php?volume_issue=n51_4&first_page=201) (freely available).
Millener, P. R. (1989): The only flightless passerine: the Stephens Island Wren (Traversia lyalli: Acanthisittidae).
Notornis 36(4): 280284, PDF fulltext (http://www.notornis.org.nz/free_issues/Notornis_36-1989/
Notornis_36_4.pdf)
Rothschild, Walter (1894): A new species from Stephens Island. Bull. B. O. C. 4(22): 10.
Rothschild, Walter (1895): [Notes on Xenicus lyalli]. Ibis 7(1): 268-269.
Rothschild, Walter (1905): On extinct and vanishing birds. Proceedings of the 4th International Ornithological
Congress, London: 191-217.
Rothschild, Walter (1907): Extinct Birds.
UK House of Commons Library (2003): Inflation: the value of the pound 1750-2002. House of Commons Library
Research Paper 03/82 PDF fulltext (http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2003/rp03-082.pdf)

74

Stephens Island Wren

External links

TerraNature - Wren (http://www.terranature.org/wren.htm)

New Zealand wrens, including picture (http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/Sampler6.htm)
Extinct New Zealand Birds (http://www.kcc.org.nz/birds/extinct.asp)
Lyall's Wren. Traversia lyalli. (http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=710965) by Paul
Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press,
Wellington, 2006

75

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file:Huia Buller.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Huia_Buller.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: J. G. Keulemans
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File:Heteralochaskull.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Heteralochaskull.png License: Public Domain Contributors: ? (text: Alfred Henry Garrod, May 18, 1846
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File:Huia-heads.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Huia-heads.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: John Gould (1804-1881)
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file:Dromaius distribution.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dromaius_distribution.png License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Contributors: Tim H. Heupink,
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Robert S. (illustrator).
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file:Sceloglaux albifacies albifacies.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sceloglaux_albifacies_albifacies.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Henry Charles
Clarke Wright
File:Keulemans Laughing Owl.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Keulemans_Laughing_Owl.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: John Gerrard Keulemans in
G.D. Rowley's Ornithological Miscellany, 1875-78.
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Cuthbert and Oliver Parr
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file:XxLaysanRail.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:XxLaysanRail.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Alfred M. Bailey
File:Laysan Rail.ogv Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Laysan_Rail.ogv License: Public Domain Contributors: Donald Ryder Dickey (1887-1932)
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File:Porphyrio albus.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Porphyrio_albus.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Arthur Bowes Smyth
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Dramatic News
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