Réunion Night-Heron (Nycticorax duboisi)
Posted on 31 December, 1674 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1674
Comments:
This species was endemic to the island of Réunion. It was last recorded in 1674, and was probably driven Extinct by hunters before 1700.
Habitat:
It is likely to have inhabited freshwater wetlands.
Causes:
It was said to be "good and fat", hunting is therefore likely to have caused its extinction.
Distribution:
Réunion Night-heron Nycticorax duboisi was endemic to Réunion (to France), and is known only from an incomplete tibiotarsus collected by Bertrand Kervazo in the Grottes des Premiers Français in 1974. The only historical record of the species is Dubois' (1674) description of "bitterns or great egrets, large as big capons, but fat and good. They have grey plumage, each feather tipped with white, the neck and beak like a heron and the feet green, made like the feet of the "Poullets d'Inde". The specimens are deposited in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (Cowles 1994).