Stephens Island wren
(Xenicus lyalli)

The Stephens Island wren became extinct because of the lighthouse keeper’s cat… The only European to ever see the Stephens Island wren alive was David Lyall, the lighthouse keeper on Stephens Island in 1894. Stephens Island is the northern-most island in the Marlborough Sounds. David Lyall reported that his cat had brought him 17 birds, which were all the same species (they were later named the Stephens Island wren). The cat hunted the wren, which could not fly, and the wren became extinct soon after it was discovered. In fact, the Stephens Island wren was discovered and then became extinct within the space of a year.

Tui, red-crowned parakeet, saddleback and pied tit populations became extinct on Cuvier Island, north-east of Coromandel Peninsula, mainly due to cat predation. Cats also significantly reduced numbers of lizards and invertebrates. In 1970 all cats were removed from the island and there has been an increase in native birds, lizards and invertebrates since then.

Cats were introduced to Mangere Island in the Chathams, to control rabbits but also wiped out at least two species of seabirds and most forest birds by 1950.

How and When Destroyed: In 1894 Mr. D. Lyall went to the island to be the lighthouse keeper, and he took his cat along for companionship. One day Lyall opened the lighthouse door to find that his intrepid cat had brought home a strange bird, which the lighthouse keeper managed to pry out of the feline's mouth and pack off to England. Lord Walter Rothschild, a member of the British Ornithological Club, eventually acquired the specimen, established the wren's classification, and named it Traversia lyalli. During the next few weeks Lyall's cat delivered about a dozen more birds, and then the supply was exhausted. Lyall dutifully saved each body, and his diligence is responsible for the number of specimens in the world's museums. This is probably the only case in which a cat was responsible for both the discovery and the extermination of species of bird.

No one ever saw the bird alive in the wild. There were probably more than just the 11 that Tibbles nabbed, but Tibbles and his friends have been breeding, and by then there are lots of feral cats running around the island that probably ate up the other few wrens. Before cats came to the island, there were no predators, and the birds had evolved to loose the ability to fly, and took up more of the niche that mice or small rodents would have filled. Living without predators probably also meant they had lost their fear of potential predators. What a sad fate for a tiny creature - to die of being too trusting and having became too slow and comfortable in their prelapsairan secluded life.

Birding Life: Sad Tale of the Stephen's Island Wren

In Memoriam

From fossilised remains found all over New Zealand, proof was obtained of the species once inhabiting the entire country. It was most likely killed off on the mainland by rats introduced by the Maori and other ground-based predators. Some of the wrens caught by Tibbles and later preserved can be seen at the British Museum. Although pretty to look at, it is more saddening that their song will never be heard.

BBC - h2g2 - The Story of the Stephens Island Wren

Please keep your pet cat indoors and support the Keep Cats indoors act.

Birds and Cats - The Cats Indoors! Campaign

Aren't they pretty???!!! I don't especially like cats!