Thirty-one years ago I set off on a quest to look for a species so rare that it seemed as mythical as a Phoenix. Not only was it almost unknown, but also the Okinawa Rail had only recently been discovered. It was, as reporters like to say, a species new to science. Nothing was known about its numbers, its distribution, its habitat or its behavior — yet, with the audacity of youth, I set off in search of one. The first specimen cited in the few extant records was from the northern third of Okinawa, the forested hills known as Yambaru. Hence the bird I went in search of was the Yambaru Kuina.