andrewt@cluster.cs.su.oz.au (Andrew Taylor) (03/28/91)
In article <2197@batman.tegra.COM>, herrera@tegra.COM (Valentino Herrera) writes: > After I posted a story of a cat lunching on a dusky seaside sparrow, > grp@Unify.com (Greg Pasquariello) wrote: > < Well, the Dusky seaside sparrow could be mistaken for a number of things, > < ... > < There _is_ however, a documented case that's similar. ... The case Greg is thinking of is the Stephens Island Wren. It is known from ~12 specimens brought in by the lighthouse keepers cat in 1894 as it ate its way through the entire population. It may have the only flightless passerine and the smallest flightless bird. Unfortunately it was seen only twice by the lighthouse keeper so we are not certain it was completely flightless. Cats do occassionally bring in interesting specimens but even if the Dusky Seaside Sparrow story actually occurred, as Greg says, it is very likely to have been a misidentification. > photographs as a dusky seaside sparrow, a species who's last > surviving members died in a Florida zoo several years ago. Actually it was a sub-species and when the last female died a captive crossbreeding program was started producing some 87.5% Dusky Seaside Sparrows before the last male died. I don't know the current status. Andrew Taylor