The Bush Wren (Xenicus longipes), or Matuhi in Maori, is a very small and almost flightless bird endemic to New Zealand. It grows to about 9 cm long and 16 g in weight. It feeds mostly on invertebrates which it captures by running along the branches of trees. It nests on or near the ground.
It was widespread throughout the main islands of the country until the late 1800s when mustelids were introduced and joined rats as predators. The only authenticated reports of the North Island subspecies (X. l. stokesi) since 1900 were from the southern Rimutaka Range in 1918 and the Urewera Ranges up to 1955. The last authenticated reports of the South Island subspecies (X. l. longipes) were from Arthur’s Pass in 1966 and Nelson Lakes National Park in 1968. There have been a few unsubstantiated reports since then from Fiordland and Nelson Lakes. The third subspecies, X. l. variabilis or Stead’s Bush Wren, was found on Stewart Island and nearby islands. It is known to have survived on Stewart Island until 1951 but was probably exterminated by feral cats. It lived on Kotiwhenua (Solomon) Island until the early 1960s. It survived on predator-free Big South Cape Island until Black Rats invaded it in 1964. The New Zealand Wildlife Service attempted to save the species by relocating all the birds they could capture. They caught six birds and transferred them to Kaimohu Island where they were last seen in 1972.
The species is probably extinct but it is not beyond possibility that it survives.
