Chatham Strait face; Xhaak, Center. The southern part of the strait was named Ensenada del Principe in 1775 by Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. In 1786 La Perouse gave it the name Tschirikow Bay, and in 1789 the fur trader James Colnett named it Christian Sound. Other early fur traders called it Menzies Strait. It received its present name in 1794 when George Vancouver named it Chatham Strait in honor of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. Chatham Sound, farther south in British Columbia, was named by Vancouver for his son John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, whose brother William
Chatham kaka have been a poor flyer. Chatham kaka The Chatham kaka or Chatham Island kaka ("Nestor chathamensis") is an extinct parrot species previously found on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. The first individuals were thought to belong to the kaka ("Nestor meridionalis"), but detailed examination of the subfossil bones showed that they actually belong to a separate endemic species. The species became extinct within the first 150 years of the arrival of the Polynesians around 1550, long before any European settlers. No skins or descriptions are available. The Chatham kaka is assigned to the genus "Nestor" in the family Nestoridae, a