Newton's Parakeet
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| Psittacula exsul (A. Newton, 1872) |
The Newton's Parakeet (Psittacula exsul) was a small parrot endemic to the forests of Rodrigues, Mauritius.
It was first recorded by François Leguat, who was the leader of a group of eight French Huguenots who colonised the island from 1691 to 1693. He described the bird as abundant, good to eat and able to imitate speech - one was tamed by them spoke French and Flemish (Dutch), and they took it with them when they finally left the island for Mauritius. Another description is found in the traveller's report Relation de l'Île Rodrigue, which was written by Julien Tafforet in 1726. It was next mentioned by the French mathematician Alexandre Pingré, who travelled to Rodrigues in 1761 to view the transit of Venus. He noted that the bird had become scarce.
A specimen was sent by Sir Edward Newton, a colonial administrator in Mauritius, to his brother Alfred, who officially described the bird in 1872. The species epithet exsul, "exiled", refers to the refugee Leguat who gave the first testimony of the bird. The last living bird was seen in 1875.
Two complete specimens survive, plus various subfossil bones. One specimen is a female, while the other is a young male. This species differs from all others of its genus by having had a slate blue, not green, plumage; however, the early reports suggest that green birds also existed; whether there were two color morphs, or the green coloration was borne by recently-fledged birds, or whether at one time a short-lived colony of a related green species existed on Rodrigues cannot now be determined.
The species' extinction was presumably caused by a combination of habitat loss and hunting for food and as a crop pest.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Psittacula exsul. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as extinct
