Things weren't looking good at first for this word, pat, as I couldn't find it in any of the online dictionaries that I like to go by. But then I checked in my Shorter Oxford app, and found it there:
[ORIGIN: French mésite, from Malagasy.]
Any of a number of endangered ground-dwelling birds of the family Mesitornithidae, found in Madagascar, which resemble thrushes but are related to the button-quails.
What's more the word has a second definition in the same dictionary, as an archaic word for
acetone.
A usage example, for the bird sense:
Endemic birding in the park is also excellent, with a chance to see brown mesites, Crossleby's babblers and pigmy kingfishers.
I'll add this as a rare word.
