Bonin Islands Grosbeak

Extinct circa 1828 CEChichi-jima, Ogasawara Islands

"According to von Kittlitz, the birds inhabited the forest, being found either singly or in pairs. They were most often seen on the ground, a trait that would certainly have made them vulnerable to any introduced mammals. Probably they searched down low for the small fruits and buds of which von Kittlitz found evidence in their gullets. The call was a 'soft, pure, high piping note, given sometimes shorter, sometimes longer'. Following von Kittlitz's report, the Bonin Islands Grosbeak was never seen again."

Fuller, Errol. Extinct Birds. Ithaca, NY: Comstock Pub., 2001.

Chaunoproctus ferreorostris, John Gerrard Keulemans, in Rothschild, Lionel Walter. Extinct Birds... London: Hutchinson, 1907.