Tahiti rail plantations. Its diet appears to have consisted mainly of insects and occasionally copra (coconut meat). The extinction of the Tahiti rail was probably due to predation by humans and introduced cats and rats. It appears to have become extinct some time after 1844 on Tahiti, and perhaps as late as the 1930s on Mehetia. The Tahiti rail was found on the South Pacific island of Tahiti (part of the Society Islands archipelago) by naturalists who were part of the British explorer James Cook's second voyage around the world (1772–1775). The bird was illustrated by Georg Forster, who accompanied his father,
A Tour in Scotland, 1769 that attempted travels at home, therefore earnestly wish for accuracy."(May 1773). Pennant was a naturalist, and many of his observations were of the flora and fauna; but he also wrote about other subjects, including economics and what would now be considered anthropology. Besides its effect on travel writing, the work had an effect on the shifting national identities of the time. A Tour in Scotland, 1769 A Tour in Scotland, 1769 was published in 1771. It is written by Thomas Pennant and illustrated by Moses Griffiths, who travelled together. Pennant set a new standard in travel literature: Samuel Johnson (whose