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)
“We crossed a deep and wide bay which makes eastward north of Kineo, leaving an island on our left, and keeping to the eastern side of the lake. This way or that led to some Tomhegan or Socatarian stream, up which the Indian had hunted, and whither I longed to go. The last name, however, had a bogus sound, too much like sectarian for me, as if a missionary had tampered with it; but I knew that the Indians were very liberal. I think I should have inclined to the Tomhegan first.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)