ʻUla-ʻai-Hawane

Anna dresses bird, below

The clothes Anna Vogel ( Ciridops anna ), also known as Kohala Dresses bird is an extinct bird from the clothes also extinct genus Ciridops. He was discovered in 1859, described in 1879 by lawyers and later Hawaiian Governor Sanford Dole and named after his wife Anna Cate Dole. Of the Hawaiians it is called Ula -ai - Hawane, which translates as " the red bird that feeds on the Hawane berry " means. He was endemic to the main island of Hawaii.

Description

The Anna Dress bird reached a length of 12.5 centimeters. He had a finch -like appearance with a short thick beak. Top of the head and neck were silvery gray. Forehead, beak and reins were black. Throat and sides of the head were dashed black and gray. The back was tinted brown. The tail, wings and chest were black. The elytra, the belly and rump were red. The primaries had pink outer webs. The eyes were hazel and legs pinkish brown.

Habitat and behavior

The Anna Dress bird lived in the districts of Kona and Hilo and the Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii. The ornithologist Robert Cyril Layton Perkins described the type as a shy, hard -to-catch bird. He lived in forests in the hilly and mountainous country and fed on the berries and flower nectar from the Hawane tree ( Pritchardia spp.).

Extinction

Little is known about the reasons for his extinction. Even at his discovery he was described as rare. Presumably, the shortage of food supply has played an important role, since many species of the plant genus Pritchardia in turn are either extinct or very rare. The last specimen was shot on February 20, 1892 at Awini River in the area of ​​Kohala by a bird collector. 1937 wants the ornithologist George Campbell Munro have not seen a copy of this kind, he was later but no longer sure if it was even really been the Anna dresses bird. Today, only five museum pieces in the museums of Harvard, Honolulu, New York and London available.