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,
Tahiti monarch in only four valleys in Tahiti. It lives in the canopy and understory in forests among mara trees ("Neonauclea forsteri"). Threats to the species include the degradation of its forest habitat by the invasion of exotic plant species, including "Miconia calvescens" and "Spathodea campanulata". The forest is also degraded by goat activity. Predation by rats and cats is a threat. The Tahiti kingfisher ("Todiramphus veneratus") is a competitor. Tahiti monarch The Tahiti monarch or Tahiti flycatcher ("Pomarea nigra") is a rare species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family. It is endemic to Tahiti in French Polynesia. There are fewer