huia

Extinct New Zealand bird, Heteralocha acutirostris, order Passeriformes. The bill of the male was short and thick, whereas the female's bill was long, thin, and curved. A pair of birds sometimes cooperated in feeding on insects in wood: the male chiselled out insect larvae with his strong bill and the female probed down into crevices for the grubs. Huias lived in the southern part of North Island. They were hunted to extinction, and were last recorded alive 1907.