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. […]
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 […]
New Zealand Quail (Coturnix novaezelandiae)
The story It is difficult to account for the disappearance of the New Zealand Quail. A closely related, possibly conspecific, Australian species, the Stubble Quail (Coturnix pectoralis), flourishes in its homeland, yet the New Zealand birds failed to survive the coming of Europeans. The species seems to have been common on the grass-covered downs of […]
Mysterious Starling (Aplonis mavornata)
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 […]
Molokai Oo (Moho bishopi)
The story The ‘o’o that inhabited the island of Molokai was discovered rather later than the others but it was known to science as an extant species for only a very short period. Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was a sudden surge of interest in the birds of Hawaii, and several teams […]
Mauritius Blue-pigeon (Alectroenas nitidissima)
The story When the first Dutch mariners landed on Mauritius, they were hungry after weeks at sea on meager rations. Naturally, they caught Dodos and ate them. Soon, however, they tired of the rather tough meat on these easily caught creatures and turned their attentions to smaller, tastier birds. Among those that they mentioned particularly […]
Mauritian Red Rail (Aphanapteryx bonasia)
The story Scattered among the seventeenth century written accounts and illustrations that relate to the celebrated Dodo are descriptions and pictures of a flightless bird of a rather different kind. These pictures show a creature that in overall shape and appearance looks something like a kiwi. A long, down-curved beak, rather hair-like plumage and stout […]
Liverpool Pigeon (Caloenas maculata)
The story Two hundred years ago there were two specimens of this species in existence. Now there is just one. No-one knows where it came from or when it was collected, although this was certainly at some time during the last half of the eighteenth century. The specimen is now in the collection of the […]
Laysan Crake (Porzana palmeri)
The story Laysan is a tiny coral island around 1280 km to the north-east of Hawaii, and one of its few inhabitants was a small species of rail. Because it is so remote, the island was infrequently visited but, nevertheless, there are several good accounts of the bird in life. These consistently tell of how […]
Labrador Duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius)
The story The Labrador Duck is one of the most mysterious of North American birds. It was always uncommon, shy and wary and for these reasons seems to have been little affected by shooting. Reasons for its extinction are unknown but one school of thought suggests that it was a very specialized feeder unable to […]