While in the Hawaiian Islands in 1825 (as the naturalist on board HMS Blonde), he saw live specimens of the bird which were brought to him by locals.

The last reliable evidence was a collection of about three birds by German naturalist Ferdinand Deppe in 1837, finding those specimens in the hills behind the capital, Honolulu.

After surveys led by ornithologist Robert C. L. Perkins and others failed to find the bird between 1880 and 1890, it was described as extinct.

Today, there are seven specimens in museum collections in Berlin, London, New York City and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The reasons for its extinction were (as typical for members of the Mohoidae) probably avian diseases caused by introduced mosquitos, habitat destruction by overgrazing from livestock and deforestation.