White-breasted mesite White-breasted mesite The white-breasted mesite ("Mesitornis variegatus") is a ground-dwelling bird endemic to Madagascar. One of three species in the mesite family, Mesitornithidae, it is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It has a small population and is restricted to five sites in the north and west of the island, and one in the east. The white-breasted mesite is a medium-sized terrestrial bird which is often described as rail-like (a family with which the mesites are sometimes placed). The species has a white face with distinctive facial markings (a white supercilium and dark malar
Hovgaard Island (Greenland) To the west, further inshore, lies smaller Lynn Island and to the east and the southeast the Greenland Sea. The Dijmphna Sound limits the island to the west and north, and to the southwest lies the mouth of the Nioghalvfjerd Fjord of the Nioghalvfjerdsbrae glacier. The island has a length of 60 km and a width of 42 km. Part of the interior is covered by an ice cap. Hovgaard Island was explored by the ill-fated Denmark Expedition to the North-East Coast of Greenland in 1906–1908. The northwestern coast of the island was surveyed by Alfred Wegener in 1907, who