adzebills

Noun

adzebill (plural adzebills)

1. Either of two bird species of the extinct family †Aptornithidae, once endemic to New Zealand.
   • But other large birds were slaughtered – the flightless goose, an enormous rail now known as the adzebill, swans and pelicans, all of them, like the moa, exploited to the point of extinction after little more than 100 years.2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 51