The Gull Island Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus nesophilus) is a subspecies of the Meadow Vole last collected in 1897. A ground-dwelling coastal beach grass herbivore endemic to Gull Island, New York, it disappeared after habitat destruction for naval fortifications in August 1898 for the Spanish-American War. Also, feral cats were also partly responsible in its decline. It is known from fifteen specimens in Washington, D.C.
Famous quotes containing the words gull and/or island:
“Oh Gull of my childhood,
cry over my window over and over, take me back,
oh harbors of oil and cunners, teach me to laugh
and cry again that way that was the good bargain
of youth....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“The shifting islands! who would not be willing that his house should be undermined by such a foe! The inhabitant of an island can tell what currents formed the land which he cultivates; and his earth is still being created or destroyed. There before his door, perchance, still empties the stream which brought down the material of his farm ages before, and is still bringing it down or washing it away,—the graceful, gentle robber!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)