The Choiseul pigeon (Microgoura meeki) is an extinct species that was endemic to the island of Choiseul in the Solomon Islands. Its closest living relative is believed to be the thick-billed ground pigeon, and some authors have suggested that the Choiseul pigeon may be a link between that species and the crowned pigeons. The adult pigeon was largely blue-grey, with an orange belly and a distinctive slate-blue crest. The bird's head sported a blue frontal shield surrounded by black feathers and a bicoloured beak. It was described as having a beautiful rising and falling whistling call. It is believed to have been a terrestrial species that laid a single egg in an unlined depression in the ground. It roosted in pairs or small groups of three or four in small shrubs and was reportedly very tame, allowing hunters to pick it up off its roost. The indigenous peoples reported that the species was driven to extinction by feral cats, as the pigeon had never previously confronted a carnivorous mammal on Choiseul. The last unconfirmed report of a Choiseul pigeon was in the early 1940s.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choiseul_pigeon

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1774:

The publication of The Sorrows of Young Werther raised the 24 -year-old Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to international fame. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther

1940:

Two Avro Ansons of No. 2 Service Flying Training School RAAF collided in mid-air over Brocklesby, New South Wales, Australia, remain locked together after colliding, and landed safely (pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940_Brocklesby_mid-air_collision

1957:

An explosion at the Soviet nuclear reprocessing plant Mayak released 74 to 1850 PBq of radioactive material. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyshtym_disaster

1962:

Alouette 1, Canada's first satellite, and the first satellite constructed by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States, was launched. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alouette_1

2005:

John Roberts became the 17th Chief Justice of the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Roberts

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

ex delicto: (law) Of a legal obligation: arising from a delict or tort, or some other wrongful act. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ex_delicto

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.   --Book of Daniel https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Book_of_Daniel