New Zealand Wattlebirds: Callaeidae

One species, the huia, went extinct, died out, in the early twentieth century. Maori chiefs and nobles wore huia feathers as symbols of office and kept them in specially carved boxes. These same feathers eventually became fashionable as hat decorations in Europe. Traders offered bounties to native people to hunt, kill, and bring back huia feathers for export. The last sighting of huias is generally listed as having been in 1907, but William Cobeldick, a forest ranger, claimed to have spotted a huia pair in Urewera National Park in 1924.