^ Wilson Journal 
of Ornithology 
Published by the Wilson Ornithological Society 
VOL. 123, NO. 4 _December 2011 PAGES 663-922 
The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(4):663-689, 2011 
THE EXTINCT WAKE ISLAND RAIL GALLIRALLUS WAKENS1S : A 
COMPREHENSIVE SPECIES ACCOUNT BASED ON MUSEUM 
SPECIMENS AND ARCHIVAL RECORDS 
STORRS L. OLSON 1 ' AND MARK J. RAUZON 2 
ABSTRACT.—A review of all available specimens and the discovery of many unpublished life history notes allows a 
much more complete picture of the morphology and behavior of the extinct Wake Island Rail (GalUrallus wakensis). The 
breeding season of the species may have been environmentally influenced but. under favorable conditions, there may have 
been two broods per year. Small groups of hirds engaged in cooperative nesting and prolonged parental care and feeding of 
the young, probably in part to defend the eggs and young from hermit crabs (Coenohila) and rats (Rattus). The smallest 
species of its genus, the Wake Island Rail was able to co-exist with Pacific rats (Rattus exutans). Extinction of the rail 
occurred between 1942 and 1945 as a result of direct predation by thousands of starving Japanese troops and habitat 
destruction resulting from military alterations and aerial bombardment. Received ti February 20II. Accepted 4 June 2011. 
Wake Island or Atoll is one of the smallest, 
harshest, and most isolated motes o!' land known 
to have harbored an endemic species of land bird, 
the Wake Island Rail (GalUrallus wakensis). the 
smallest historically known species of its genus. 
These ‘serious business-like little birds,’ as they 
were characterized, had survived the adversities of 
their sun-bleached, storm-battered, and often 
drought-plagued comer of the planet for thou¬ 
sands of years, until coming to the attention of the 
scientific community at the turn of the 20th 
century. Then, before the century was half over, 
the species would be extinct. Wake Island was the 
scene of the first battle in the all-out war arising 
1 Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum 
of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. P. O. Box 
37012, Washington. D.C. 20013. USA. 
Geography Department. Lancy College, 900 Fallon 
Street. Oakland. CA 94607. USA. 
Corresponding author; e-mail: olsons@si.edu 
Irom the attempted Japanese conquest of the 
islands of the Pacific. For nearly 4 years. Wake 
was the scene of um-emitting human violence and 
suffering unparalleled in the history of World War 
II for an area so small and remote. At the end of 
that conflict the little rail Was no more. 
Little has been known or written about 
GalUrallus wakensis and no opportunities will 
ever exist for further observations. The present 
study came about through discovery of written 
and photographic materials concerning the Wake 
Island Rail in archival sources (e.g., Fig. 1), or 
obscure publications that had not been consulted 
or incorporated into the scant accounts of the 
species that have appeared to date. These provide 
information on the species that is new and original 
and the statement that “most aspects of the life 
history of the Wake Island Rail....will never be 
known (L ivezey 2(X)3:33) is no longer true. We 
also attempted to trace and examine all known 
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