Tahiti rail Tahiti rail The Tahiti rail, Tahitian red-billed rail, or Pacific red-billed rail ("Gallirallus pacificus") is an extinct species of rail that lived on Tahiti. It was first recorded during James Cook's second voyage around the world (1772–1775), on which it was illustrated by Georg Forster and described by Johann Reinhold Forster. No specimens have been preserved. As well as the documentation by the Forsters, there have been claims that the bird also existed on the nearby island of Mehetia. The Tahiti rail appears to have been closely related to, and perhaps derived from, the buff-banded rail, and has also been
A Tour in Scotland, 1769 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 own travelogue it provoked) said of him, "He's the best traveller I ever read; he observes more things than anyone else does". He himself said of his work: "I beg to be considered not as a Topographer but as a curious traveller willing to collect all that a traveller may be supposed to do in his voyage; I am the first