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:
“She that but little patience knew,
From childhood on, had now so much
A grey gull lost its fear and flew
Down to her cell and there alit,
And there endured her fingers’ touch
And from her fingers ate its bit.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States. The control which, with Florida, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)