Chatham Island Fernbird

The Chatham Islands Fernbird is an extinct bird species endemic to Pitt Island and Mangere Island . Its next living relatives are the Snares Fernbird and the New Zealand Fernbird or Matata . Some scientists considered it as subspecies of the Matata and named it Bowdleria punctata rufescens or Megalurus punctatus rufescens but most others regarded it as full species. While most scientists classified it in its own genus Bowdleria other taxonomists synonymized it with the Australasian genus Megalurus. But this happened on the basis of an incomplete review of the evidence.

The Chatham Island Fernbird is classified as Extinct (EX), there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died.

collectors on Mangere, the Chatham Island fernbird became extinct 25 years after its discovery. "The only information regarding the habits of this bird comes from Travers. He say that 'he only found this bird on Mangere... Its peculiar habit of hopping rapidly from one point of concealment to another renders it difficult to secure. It has a peculiar whistle, very like that which a man would use in order to attract attention of another at some distance. More

the Chatham Island fernbird are reputed to have been exterminated by them. On Little Barrier Island, however, a fairly constant relationship has been established between cats and their main prey – petrels in spring, and kiore or native rats throughout the year. Cats seem to have had little effect on the native-bird population of that island. There is no organised control of wild cats in New Zealand, but a number are destroyed by the wildlife rangers of national parks, reserves, and acclimatisation societies. More