The story This species is known from just a single skin in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. For many years this skin was a complete mystery and its origin was entirely unknown, but thanks to some comprehensive detective work conducted by Storrs Olson of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, its origin is […]
Category: Passeriformes
Norfolk Starling (Aplonis fusca)
The story The third extinct member of the genus Aplonis inhabited the islands of Norfolk and Lord Howe. Both these Tasman Sea islands have lost several of their endemic birds and the starling vanished during the first half of the twentieth century. The species has been divided into two races, the nominate from Norfolk Island […]
Akialoa (Hemignathus obscurus)
The story Because it is so poorly known, the honeycreeper family, in particular its extinct members, arouses a certain amount of controversy. It is classified and reclassified over and over again, and drastic revisions of the family are made from time to time. Unfortunately, these revisions are, of necessity, made from specimen material rather than […]
Oahu Oo (Moho apicalis)
The story The main islands of Hawaii each had their own distinctive species of ‘O’o. All are closely related but their respective island isolations led to certain clear differences. The Oahu ‘O’o was distinguished chiefly by its strikingly marked black and white tail. Like its relative on Hawaii it sported yellow flank plumes and undertail-coverts. […]
Bachmans Warbler (Vermivora bachmanii)
The story This tiny species divided its time between the south-eastern USA and Cuba, where it wintered. It was first identified by the Reverend John Bachman, a close personal friend of the famous painter and writer John James Audubon. Bachman was a resident of Charleston, and in July 1833 he found, in a local swamp, […]
Piopio (Turnagra capensis)
The story The Piopio, or New Zealand Thrush, may have been two species rather than one. Two quite distinct kinds existed, and they are usually regarded as races of the same species: nominate capensis of the South Island; and race tanagra of the North Island. There are good reasons for supposing that they should be […]
Bay Thrush (Turdus ulietensis)
The story This is another of those species known today only from a painting by Georg Forster. This painting, now in the Forster portfolio at the Natural History Museum, London, was produced on 1st June 1774 at Raiatea in the South Pacific, and according to an inscription it shows a female. Although no actual specimen […]
Rodrigues Starling (Necropsar rodericanus)
The story The skeletal remains of a starling were found on the island of Rodrigues during the 1870’s. Although there may be no connection, these bones have been associated with a brief account in the document known as the Relation de l’Ile Rodrigue, which was probably written by a marooned sailor named Tafforet during 1725. […]
Robust White-eye (Zosterops strenuus)
The story So impressed was he by the comparatively large size of this species, for a white-eye, that the famous nineteenth century ornithologist and writer John Gould felt inclined to give this bird the common name of “Robust Zosterops”, and this same sensation is perhaps recalled somewhat in the scientific name that he gave it. […]
Black Mamo (Drepanis funerea)
The story A bird very closely related to the Hawaii Mamo once lived on the island of Molokai. Here it was discovered by R. C. L. Perkins at an altitude of 1525 metres during June 1893. What is known of the species comes largely from Perkins’s account. Individuals were only ever seen low down in […]