[2] The first mention of the black robin in science was at a presentation given by William Travers at the Wellington Philosophical Society in 1871.

He presented the findings of his son, Henry Travers, who had visited the Chatham Islands to investigate their fauna.

[3] Although Henry Travers' notes on his visit were published the following year, it was the publication of Walter Buller a month later that is considered the species' official description.

To shelter from the strong winds and rough seas around the islands, they frequent the lower branches of the forest, or in flat areas with deep litter layers.

Black robins forage in the leaf litter on the ground for grubs, cockroaches, wētā, and worms.

After leaving the nest, chicks often spend the first day or two on the ground learning to use their wings, and here they are exposed to predators.

They were saved from extinction by Don Merton and his Wildlife Service team, and by "Old Blue", the last remaining fertile female.

The team increased the annual output of Old Blue (and later other females) by removing the first clutch every year and placing the eggs in the nest of the Chatham race of the tomtit, a technique known as cross-fostering.

Human conservationists pushed the eggs back into the nests where they were incubated and hatched successfully.

Conservationists have faced some criticism that they may inadvertently do harm, if they allow organisms with deleterious traits to survive and perpetuate what is maladaptive.

[10][11] It was generally assumed that the minimum viable population protecting from inbreeding depression was around 50 individuals, but this is now known to be an inexact average, with the actual numbers being below 10 in rapidly reproducing small-island species, such as the black robin, to several hundred in long-lived continental species with a wide distribution (such as elephants or tigers).

Attempts made to establish another population in a fenced covenant on Pitt Island have failed so far.