Tahiti rail

Extinct species of bird from Tahiti

The Tahiti rail, Tahitian red billed rail, or Pacific red billed rail (Hypotaenidia pacifica) is an extinct species of rail that lived on Tahiti. It was first recorded during James Cook's second voyage around the world (1772–1775), on which it was illustrated by Georg Forster and described by Johann Reinhold Forster. No specimens have been preserved. As well as the documentation by the Forsters, there have been claims that the bird also existed on the nearby island of Mehetia. The Tahiti rail appears to have been closely related to, and perhaps derived from, the buff banded rail, and has also been historically confused with the Tongan subspecies of that bird. The Tahiti rail was long, and its colouration was unusual for a rail. The underparts, throat, and eyebrow like supercilium were white, and the upper parts were black with white dots and bands. The nape (or hind neck) was ferruginous (rust coloured), the breast was grey, and it had a black band across the lower throat. The bill and iris were red, and the legs were fleshy pink. The Tahiti rail was supposedly flightless and nested on the ground. It is said to have been seen in open areas, marshes, and in coconut plantations. Its diet appears to have consisted mainly of insects and occasionally copra (coconut meat). The extinction of the Tahiti rail was probably due to predation by humans and introduced cats and rats. It appears to have become extinct some time after 1844 on Tahiti, and perhaps as late as the 1930s on Mehetia.

The Tahiti rail was found on the South Pacific island of Tahiti (part of the Society Islands archipelago) by naturalists who were part of the British explorer James Cook's second voyage around the world (1772–1775). The bird was illustrated by Georg Forster, who accompanied his father, the German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster. The father and son were tasked with recording natural history during the voyage, with Georg as the draughtsman. The plate (no. 128) is life sized and is kept at the Natural History Museum in London. It is inscribed with the words "Rallus pacificus. Taheitee. Oomnaoe. Oomeea keto ōw'". No specimens of this bird have been preserved, but it is presumed that Forster saw a skin. The English naturalist John Latham referred to this species as the "Pacific Rail" in 1785, and the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin formally named the bird Rallus pacificus in 1789, based on Latham's account. In 1844 the German naturalist Hinrich Lichtenstein published J. R. Forster's account of the discoveries made during the journey, including his description of the Tahiti rail. Tevea also appears to have been one of the common names for the bird. In 1967 the American ornithologist James Greenway wrote that the bird was said by Polynesians to have also existed on the island of Mehetia near Tahiti "a generation ago", as reported to Greenway by the amateur naturalist Anthony Curtiss. Greenway also suggested it may have occurred on other islands. In 2012 the English ornithologist and artist Julian P. Hume referred to the claim that the bird lived on Mehetia as "hearsay" but regarded it as a possibility that it lived there and on other outlying islands. In spite of the clarification, the Tongan bird was placed on a list of extinct birds in the 1981 book Endangered Birds of the World, and Forster's plate of the Tahiti rail was used to illustrate the Samoan wood rail (Gallinula pacifica), a completely different species, in the 1989 book Le Grand Livre des Espécies Disparues. The specific name refers to the Pacific Ocean and is Latin for "peaceful". In 1977 the American ornithologist Sidney Dillon Ripley suggested that the Tahiti rail was an isolated form of buff banded rail and perhaps belonged to a superspecies with that bird and the Wake Island rail (Hypotaenidia wakensis).

The Tahiti rail was supposedly flightless, and nested on the ground. Its social behaviour is unknown. Bruner claimed to have gained information about the behaviour of the species from "the few people who still remember the bird". According to Bruner, the call of the bird was described as similar to that of other rails, though it differed in ending in a high pitched whistle. It was said to have been seen in open areas, sometimes with other rails in marshes, and in coconut plantations. Its diet appears to have consisted mainly of insects found in grass, and it occasionally fed on copra (coconut meat). Its broken colour pattern was said to make it blend well with its surroundings, and it lacked "shyness".