# Bonin thrush

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The **Bonin thrush** (***Zoothera terrestris***), also known as **Kittlitz's thrush** or the **Bonin Islands thrush**, is an [extinct](/source/Extinct) species of [Asian thrush](/source/Asian_thrush). It is sometimes separated as the only species of the genus *Cichlopasser*. The only place where this bird was found was [Chichi-jima](/source/Chichi-jima) in the [Ogasawara Islands](/source/Ogasawara_Islands); it might conceivably have inhabited Anijima and Otōtojima, but this has not been borne out by observations or specimens. The species was only once observed by a naturalist, its discoverer [Heinrich von Kittlitz](/source/Heinrich_von_Kittlitz). He encountered the thrush in the coastal woods where it usually kept to the ground; it may have been ground-nesting. The only specimens ever taken are in the [Naturalis](/source/Naturalis) in [Leiden](/source/Leiden) (1), the [Naturhistorisches Museum](/source/Naturhistorisches_Museum) in [Vienna](/source/Vienna) (1), the [Senckenbergmuseum](/source/Senckenberg_Museum) in [Frankfurt](/source/Frankfurt) (1) and in the Zoological Museum, [St. Petersburg](/source/Saint_Petersburg) (2).

## Extinction

The Bonin thrush is not among the birds observed or collected by the [Beechey](/source/Frederick_William_Beechey) Pacific expedition which called at Chichi-jima in 1827. It was only found the following year, when Kittlitz took the five specimens; he considered them common enough around the landing site. It is unknown why Beechey's expedition, which landed at the same location, did not find them.

Following the suggestion of two shipwrecked sailors (who were picked up by Beechey in 1827) that the island would make a good stopover station for [whalers](/source/Whaler), settlement was begun in 1830. When [Perry](/source/Matthew_Perry_(naval_officer))'s first mission to [Japan](/source/Japan) called at Chichi-jima in 1853, they did not find the bird again; neither did naturalist [William Stimpson](/source/William_Stimpson) of the [Rodgers](/source/John_Rodgers_(naval_officer,_Civil_War))-[Ringgold](/source/Cadwalader_Ringgold) [North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition](/source/North_Pacific_Exploring_and_Surveying_Expedition) in the following year. Instead, they encountered rats and feral goats, sheep, dogs and cats (feral pigs were already found by Kittlitz and may have been left by Beechey to provision possible future castaways). Just like the [Bonin grosbeak](/source/Bonin_grosbeak), the Bonin thrush probably succumbed soon after 1830 to predation by the introduced mammals and [habitat destruction](/source/Habitat_destruction).

## External links

- Kittlitz, Heinrich von (1830): [Description of *Zoothera terrestris*]. *Mem. presentes a l'Acad. Imp. des Sci. de St. Petersbourg par divers savants, etc.* **1**(3): 244, plate 17.
- [3D view](https://web.archive.org/web/20110607235015/http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=23) of specimen RMNH 89298 at [Naturalis](/source/Naturalis), Leiden (requires [QuickTime](/source/QuickTime) browser plugin).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bonin thrush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonin_thrush) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonin_thrush?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.