Hawaiian Rail
A species of Large Gray Crakes Scientific name : Zapornia sandwichensis Genus : Large Gray Crakes
Hawaiian Rail, A species of Large Gray Crakes
Botanical name: Zapornia sandwichensis
Genus: Large Gray Crakes
Content
Description General Info
Description
The first collections were of individuals of the lighter form, of which today 5 specimens seem to exist: in the Naturalis in Leiden (one: RMNH 87450), in the American Museum of Natural History and New York City (1)). Of the dark form, several additional individuals are present in collections in Cambridge (Museum of Natural History, 1), London (Natural History Museum, 1), Vienna, New York City (1) and Honolulu (Bishop Museum, 2). One 1778 painting by William Ellis (plate 70) depicts a light bird, possibly the Leiden specimen (which was apparently collected in late January/early February, 1779), and in more recent times, subfossil bones have also been recovered. 
Habitat
It was a flightless bird that was apparently found in shrubland and secondary growth on abandoned fields and in times of danger had the habit of hiding in Polynesian rat burrows. Specimens are known or assumed to be from an area which roughly corresponds to the middle elevations of today's Puna district around the present settlement of Mountain View, below the primary rainforest.
General Info
Species Status
Specimens of the light form were collected in 1778 on the third Cook expedition; the dark form was supposedly not found at that time (but see above). Apparently, all or at least most specimens of the latter were procured over a short period around 1860 by James D. Mills, the last one in 1864. The last reliable sight record was in 1884, with a doubtful one in 1893; a dedicated search in 1887 failed to find the bird, but as it was rather cryptic, this cannot be taken as unequivocal proof that it was completely extinct by then. As neither the small Asian mongoose nor mosquitoes (which transmit fowlpox and avian malaria, both exceptionally lethal to Hawaiian endemic birds) were present on Big Island until 1883 and the 1890s, respectively, this species' extinction was probably caused by introduced European rats, cats and possibly dogs. Hunting, sometimes assumed to have played a major part, probably was not significant as the bird was protected by a kapu which prohibited hunting except by aliʻi until 1819 . After that, the few specimens that were collected suggest it was not extensively hunted even after the kapu were abolished.
Scientific Classification
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