Name: New Zealand quail

Description: -

Reason for being extinct: Quail preserves were often given in the Maori Land court in support of title. This extensive shooting for food and for sport undoubtedly caused severe reductions in the total population and there was also widespread burning off of the lowland tussock grassland which formed the birds main habitat. Their decline was sudden, over the course of a year or two, and in spite of the efforts of landowners to conserve the game by setting aside wide tracts of habitat, they became extinct around 1875. 

Fossils??: None.