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New evidence on the life and death of Hawkins’ Rail Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi : Moriori accounts recorded by Sigvard Dannefaerd and Alexander Shand

  • Publication Type

    Journal Article

  • Publication Year

    2004

  • Author(s)

    J.H. Cooper; A.J.D. Tennyson

  • Journal Name

    Notornis

  • Volume, Issue

    51, 4

  • Pagination

    212-216

  • Article Type

    paper

Keywords

behaviour; Dannefaerd; Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi; extinction; Hawkins’ Moriori; rail; Shand


New evidence on the life and death of Hawkins’ Rail Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi : Moriori accounts recorded by Sigvard Dannefaerd and Alexander Shand

Notornis, 51 (4), 212-216

J.H. Cooper; A.J.D. Tennyson (2004)

Article Type: paper

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A previously unknown Moriori-based account of the extinct Hawkins’ rail (Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi) from the Chatham Islands is presented and discussed. The account, recorded by Sigvard Jacob Dannefaerd in a letter to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild in 1895, includes details of the species’ appearance, behaviour and Moriori hunting methods. A second, similar description of a previously unidentified Chatham Islands bird is also linked to Hawkins’ rail. The clarity of the accounts suggests a considerably later extinction date for the species than previously supposed.