Macquarie Rail

The Macquarie - banded Rail ( Gallirallus philippensis macquariensis ) is an extinct subspecies of the banded Rail, which was endemic to the Macquarie Island south of New Zealand.

Taxonomy

The Macquarie - banded Rail was described in 1879 by Frederick Wollaston Hutton. 1965 this Rail has been included in the Red List of Threatened Species IUCN, but later deleted again after the American ornithologist James Cowan Greenway has it merely as a subspecies of the New Zealand population Gallirallus philippensis assimilis 1967. Because of the differences between the two taxa is followed but today the classifications of Walter Reginald Brook Oliver (1955) and Sidney Dillon Ripley (1977 ) and treated the Macquarie - banded Rail as a valid subspecies.

Description

In contrast to the banded Rail it was darker, had less bright spots and stripes, a wider reddish brown breast band and a smaller beak. The smaller wing lead to the assumption that she was unable to fly. The weight was about 170 grams.

Way of life

Over the life of the Macquarie - banded Rail little is known. There may be a travelogue of seafarers from 1821 refers to this bird. It may be mentioned " widgeons " (or " tussock fowls " ), who lived in the tussock grass, were unable to fly and therefore were easy to catch.

Extinction

1879 rabbits were exposed on Macquarie Island, which destroyed much of the vegetation on the island. Imported and domestic cats Wekarallen sealed the extinction of the Rail, which was no longer detected after 1890. Today, three museum specimens are known, of which there are two at the Natural History Museum and one in the Otago Museum. Furthermore, there are seven subfossil bones in the museum collections.