Kosrae Crake
The Kosrae Crake ( Porzana Monasa ), also known as Caroline Rail, is an extinct bird from the family of Rail birds. It happened on the belonging to the Caroline Island Kosrae and probably also on the island of Ponape in the southwest Pacific. Its preferred habitat were coastal swamps and marshes with a vegetation of Taro ( Colocasia esculenta ).
Description
It was discovered in 1827 by Heinrich von Kittlitz. From Kittlitz the plumage generally described as black with a blue sheen. The quills were slightly brownish. The face and the center of the throat were brown. The surface of the tail was black - brown. The coverts had white spots. The inner wing coverts were spotted brown and white. The outer edge of the first primary feather was pale - brown. Iris, legs and feet and had a reddish color. The beak was black. The length was 18 cm. Uncertain data exist with regard to its ability to fly. Let X-ray measurements of Carpometacarpii suspect that it was unable to fly. His native name nay -tay -may- not mean, however translated "those who end up in the taro ", which in turn could indicate a conditional flying.
Extinction
The Kosrae Crake is only two copies known, were shot by Heinrich von Kittlitz in the swamps of Kosrae in December 1827 and are located today in the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. The story of his disappearance is that of Kosrae -Sing Stars ( another extinct species of Kosrae ) are very similar. From Kittlitz reported that this bird is rarely found in 1828 and his reputation was rarely heard. 1880 was the German ornithologist Otto Finsch no longer be detected and the Whitney Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History in 1931 was unsuccessful in finding this kind through his presumed inability to fly the Kosrae Crake it was obviously an easy target for rats who escaped during the 1830s and 1840s by missionary or whaling vessels and have spread to Kosrae.