Summary
This valuable specimen was acquired from William Sheridan Wall in November 1863. In a letter to Professor McCoy, the director of the National Museum of Victoria, Wall wrote "I have in my possesion a Bird of extreme rarity, the Nestor productus or Phillip Island Parrot. Which is a bird extinct for the last 20 yrs. I have been looking out for it very anxiously and I have at last obtained a specimen. I believe it to be the only one in New South Wales."
Wall had previously offered to sell the specimen to the Australian Museum, however they could not afford this costly bird. McCoy purchased it up for the princely sum of ten pounds, stating that "provided it be delivered by return mail in perfectly good condition, if in bad condition, the right is reserved of offering a lower price."
The Norfolk Island Kaka was endemic to the Australian Territory of Norfolk Island in the Tasman Sea, including the nearby Phillip Island. Although considered common when Norfolk Island was settled by Europeans in 1788, the species became extinct in the late 1840s, with the clearing of habitat and hunting though to be the main causes. The last known bird reportedly died in captivity in London in 1851.
Sources:
BirdLife International 2016. Nestor productus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22684834A93049105. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22684834A93049105.en. Downloaded on 15 February 2019.
Museum Victoria Archives - National Museum of Victoria - Inwards Correspondence - 1854 - 1899 Walker, William to Ward, H.A
Museum Victoria Archives - National Museum of Victoria - Outward Letter Book, 2, September 1861- May 1865
Holdaway, R.N. & Anderson, A.J. 2001. Avifauna from Emily Bay settlement site, Norfolk Island: a preliminary account. Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 27: 85-100. DOI: 10.3853/j.0812-7387.27.2001.1343
Classification
Specimen Details
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Taxon Name
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Preferred Common name
Norfolk Island Kaka
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Other Common Names
Norfolk Kaka, Norfolk Island Parrot
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Number Of Specimens
1
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Specimen Nature
Nature: Mount, Form: Dry
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Donor
William S. Wall, 1863
From correspondence in the archive see Object Summary field on Classification Tab - Bec Carland 15/12/2015. -
Collected By
Harry Quintal
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Date Visited From
4/11/1910
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Date Visited To
4/11/1910
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Category
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Scientific Group
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Discipline
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Collecting Areas
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Type of Item
Taxonomy
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Kingdom
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Phylum
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Subphylum
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Class
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Order
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Family
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Genus
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Species Name
productus
Geospatial Information
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Ocean
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Country
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State
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Precise Location
Phillip Island
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Latitude
-29.12
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Longitude
167.95
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Geodetic Datum
WGS84
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Georeference Protocol
AMG conversion, collection or Gazetteer