The western Lewin's rail (''Lewinia pectoralis clelandi''), also known as Cleland's rail, Lewin's rail (western) or the Lewin water rail, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

and little known

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

Lewin's rail Lewin's rail (''Lewinia pectoralis'') is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is also known as the water rail, Lewin's water rail, Lewin's grind rail, slate-breasted rail, slate-breasted water rail, pectoral rail, pectoral water rail, sho ...

that was

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. There are only four specimens, one in the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum, originally known as the Colonial Museum or Sydney Museum. is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney, William Street, Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, New South Wales. It is the oldest natural ...

and three in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. The subspecific name honours Australian ornithologist

John Burton Cleland Sir John Burton Cleland CBE (22 June 1878 – 11 August 1971) was a renowned Australian naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist and ornithologist. He was Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide and was consulted on high-level ...

Description

The rail had a rufous to chestnut crown and neck with heavy black streaking, grey cheeks, throat and breast, with the rest of the upper body streaked black and brown. The wings were dark brown with narrow white barring, while the belly, flanks and undertail were black, barred white or buff. The bill was long and slender, pink with a darker tip; the eyes brown to red, and the legs and feet pinkish grey. The length of the rail was , with a bill length of .

Distribution and habitat

The rail had a restricted distribution in the far south-west of Western Australia, from

Margaret River The Margaret River is a river in southwest Australia, southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River, Western Australia, Margaret River. The river arises from a catchment ...

to Albany, and inland as far as

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the Parishes of Barbados, parish of Saint Michael, Barbados, Saint Mic ...

. Its core habitat was the dense vegetation fringing, or emerging from, saline, brackish and freshwater

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s, though it could also sometimes be found in grassland or in thick coastal scrub.

Conservation status

Always scarce, the subspecies became extinct because of the destruction and modification of its wetland habitats, mainly through drainage and clearance burning for agriculture and settlement. There have been no reports of its existence since 1932.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q614017 Lewinia Birds of Western Australia Bird extinctions since 1500 Extinct birds of Australia Birds described in 1911 Species made extinct by human activities