Hawkins's Rail

Hawkins Rail ( Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi )

The Hawkins - Rail ( Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi ) or Mehonui is an extinct Rallenart of the Chatham Islands. The way 1892 was described by the explorer Henry Ogg Forbes based on skeletal remains (among a completely preserved skull ), which he had received from the paleontologist William Hawkins. Forbes recognized the unusual size of the Rail and guess it to be about 40 cm. The weight he gave to 2 kg. Furthermore, it was characterized by relatively short foot bones and complete inability to fly. Their diet consisted probably of insects and fern roots.

For a long time it was assumed that the Hawkins - Rail became extinct about 300 to 450 years before the settlement by Europeans of the Moriori ( the first settlers on the Chatham Islands). More recently, however, a letter from the ornithologists Sigvard Dannefaerd was found to Lord Rothschild from 1895, which contains evidence that this Rail could have survived until the late 19th century.