Donald Vincent Merton was a New Zealand conservationist best known for saving the black robin from extinction. He also discovered the lek breeding system of the kākāpō.
Merton (left) with Dave Barker on Hauturu (Little Barrier Island)
Richard Henry kākāpō held by Merton, Codfish Island, November 2010. Richard Henry spent the past 35 years on four predatory-mammal-free islands. Named after Richard Treacy Henry the pioneer conservationist, and from 1894 to 1910, custodian of Resolution Island, New Zealand he was the last known survivor of his species from mainland New Zealand and was believed to be more than 100 years old. Richard Henry's legacy: His one female and two male off-spring hatched on
The black robin or Chatham Island robin is an endangered bird from the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand. It is closely related to the South Island robin. It was first described by Walter Buller in 1872. The binomial commemorates the New Zealand botanist Henry H. Travers (1844–1928). Unlike its mainland counterparts, its flight capacity is somewhat reduced. Evolution in the absence of mammalian predators made it vulnerable to introduced species, such as cats and rats, and it became extinct on the main island of the Chatham group before 1871, being restricted to Little Mangere Island thereafter.
Black robin
Illustration of the black robin, the Chatham fernbird, and Lyall's wren, extinct birds from its region, by John Gerrard Keulemans
Petroica traversi nest from the collection of Auckland Museum
