Hawaiian Coot

SCI Name:  Fulica alai
Protonym:  Fulica alai U.S.Expl.Exped. 8 p.224
Taxonomy:  Gruiformes / Rallidae / Fulica
Taxonomy Code:  hawcoo
Type Locality:  Hawaiian Islands.
Author:  Peale
Publish Year:  1848
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

FULICA
(Rallidae; Ϯ Common Coot F. atra) L. fulica, fuliga or fulix, fulicis coot; "82. FULICA.  Rostrum convexum: Mandibula superiore margine supra inferiorem fornicata; Mandibula inferior, pone apicem gibba.  Frons calva.  Pedes tetradactyli, sublobati." (Linnaeus 1758): ex "Fulica" of Belon 1555 and Gessner 1555; "Fulica Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 152. Type, by tautonymy, Fulica atra Linné (Fulica, prebinomial specific name in synonymy)." (Peters, 1934, II, p. 211). Linnaeus's Fulica comprised four species (F. atra, F. Chloropus, F. Porphyrio, F. spinosa).  The coots seem to have radiated around the world from their Neotropical origins, but the Common Coot ranges widely from Europe to Japan and New Zealand.
Var. Fulcia, Tulica.
Synon. Lophophalaris, Lupha, Lycornis, Lysca, Nesophalaris, Palaeolimnas, Paludiphilus, Phalaria.

fulica
L. fulica, fuliga or fulix, fulicis  coot.
● ex “Grébifoulque de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 893, and “Grèbe-foulque” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Heliornis).
● See: fulca 

fusca
L. fuscus  dusky, black, brown. Despite its classical meaning this epithet is used in ornithology to indicate a very wide spectrum of colours from black, grey and brown to a range of dark tints including slate-blue and dusky-orange (see also fuscus).
● ex “Héron brun de Cayenne” (= ☼) of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 858, and “Héron brun” of de Buffon 1770-1786 (syn. Agamia agami).
● ex “Gobe-mouche brun de la Martinique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 568, fig. 2 (Allenia).
● ex “Brown Sandpiper” of Pennant 1768, and Latham 1787 (syn. Calidris minuta).
● ex “Brown Tern” of Latham 1785 (syn. Chlidonias niger).
● ex “Promérops de la nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 638, “Promérops brun à ventre rayé” of de Buffon 1770-1783, “Promérops brun de la nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1776, and “New Guinea brown Promerops” of Latham 1782 (syn. Epimachus fastuosus).
● ex “White-breasted Barbet” of Latham 1782 (Malacoptila).
● "61. ANAS.  ...  fusca.  5. A. nigricans, macula pone oculos lineaque alarum albis.  Anas corpore obscuro, macula alba pone oculos, lineaque alba. Fn. svec. 106. It. gotl. 215. 271.  Anas fera fusca. Jonst. av. t. 44.  Anas niger. Will. orn. 278. t. 10. Raj. av. 141.  Habitat in oceano Europæo.  Mas ad basin rostri gibbositate notatus." (Linnaeus 1758) (Melanitta).
● ex “Martin-pêcheur de la Nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 663 (= ♀), and “Great Brown Kingsfisher” of Latham 1782 (syn. Melidora macrorrhina).
● ex “Tangara brun d’Amérique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 155, fig. 2 (syn. Paroaria gularis).
● ex “Coot-footed Tringa” of Edwards 1743-1751, “Phalaropus fuscus” of Brisson 1760, and “Brown Phalarope” of Pennant 1785, and Latham 1785 (syn. Phalaropus lobatus).
● ex “Brown Creeper from the South Seas” of Latham 1782 (syn. Phylidonyris undulata).
● ex “Golondrina parda” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 301 (subsp. Progne tapera).
● ex "Figuier étranger" of d'Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 58, fig. 3 (Setophaga).
● ex “Bouveron” of de Buffon 1770-1783: “J’appelle ainsi cet oiseau ... parce qu’il me paroît faire la nuance entre les bouvreuils [bullfinches] d’Europe et les bec-ronds [seedeaters] d’Amérique” (syn. Sporophila lineola).
● ex “Barge brune” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 875 (syn. Tringa erythropus).
● ex “Rasle brun des Philippines” of Brisson 1760 (Zapornia).
● ex “Tourterelle de la Caroline” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 175 (syn. Zenaida macroura carolinensis).
● "96. LOXIA.  ...  fusca.  25. L. fusca, subtus albida, remigibus a tertia ad nonam basi omnino albis. Chin. Lagerstr. 19.  Habitat in Benghala." (Linnaeus 1758) (unident.).
● ex “Figuier brun-olive” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Olive-brown Warbler” of Latham 1783, and Pennant 1785 (unident.).
● ex “Gobe-mouche brun de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 574, fig. 1 (unident.; has been linked with Cnemotriccus fuscatus and with Contopus cinereus).

alai
Hawaiian name Alae  burnt forehead, a generic term for moorhens and coots. In Hawaiian myth. the bird’s white forehead was scorched by the firebrand it had stolen from the gods to bring comfort to the early Hawaiians (cf. "GALLINULA CHLOROPUS L. Alae.  ...  By tradition of the natives, the discoverer of fire, by which its forehead was burnt red; hence its name - a lae - burnt forehead" (Dole 1878)) (Fulica).