HZ 



FULICA ALAI. 



ALAI KEOKEO. 



Fulica atra, Bloxam, Voy. 'Blonde/ p. 251 (1826) (nee Linnaeus). 



Fulica alai, Peale, U.S. Expl. Exped., Birds, p. 224, pi. lxiii. fig. 2* (1848) ; Hartlaub, Arch. f. 



Natnrgesch. 1852, i. pp. 119, 137 ; id. J. f. 0. 1853, Ber. vii. JahresversammL deutscli. Orn. Ges. 



pp. 75, 89; Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exped., Mamm. & Orn. p. 306, pi. xxxvi* (1858) ; id. Proc. 



Acad. Philad. 1862, p. 322; G. B. Gray, Cat. B. Trop. Isl. p. 54 (1859) ; Sclater, Ibis, 1871, 



p. 361 ; id. P. Z. S. ] 878, p. 351 ; id. Eep. Voy. < Challenger/ Birds, p. 99 ; Pelzeln, Verh. z.-b. 



Gesellsch. Wien, 1873, p. 159; Streets, Contr. N. H. Haw. & Panning Isl. p. 21 (1877); 



Einsch, Ibis, 1880, p. 78 ; Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 80 ; id. op. cit. 1888, p. 95. 

 Fulica alae, Dole, Proc. Boston Soc. N. H. xii. p. 302 (1869) ; id. Hawaiian Alman. 1879, p. 54. 



* Figurce notabiles. 



Bloxam appears to have been the first ornithologist to notice a Coot on the Sandwich 

 Islands, though he imagined it to belong to the common European species. The 

 credit of distinguishing it from the other members of the genus belongs to Peale, 

 who, while he was somewhat doubtful of his own correctness, named it Fulica alai, 

 from the native appellation of " Alai " or " Alae," which is also applied to the 

 Hawaiian Water-Hen, and is evidently used indiscriminately for birds of this description. 

 The chief points of distinction relied on are the smaller size and more slender beak ; 

 but Dr. Finsch, who observed both Coots and Water-Hens at Waike, Kahalui in 

 Maui, and Waimanalo in Oahu, states that the pale greyish colour of the feet, without 

 any greenish band on the joint of the knee, constitutes a further mark of differentiation ; 

 adding that the cry is not so loud or harsh as in the European bird, nor are the eggs 

 so large. 



Peale found this species not uncommon on marshy creeks and in the taro patches, 

 Dr. Finsch on the lagoons. The latter author and Judge Dole agree in saying that 

 the habits are similar to those of its congeners ; while the Judge further states that 

 " the frontal knob " is " ivory-white, instead of pale blue, as Peale gives it." 



It was also obtained by Stimpson, of the N. Pacific Surveying and Exploring 

 Expedition of the United States, at Hilo, in Hawaii, in 1856, and by H. Kraus 

 during the Austrian Mission to E. Asia and America in 1870. 



I regret to say that I did not obtain examples when in the Sandwich Islands ; 

 Dr. Stejneger, however, received two from Mr. Knudsen, procured in Kauai, and, was 

 thus able to corroborate his statement already made in 1887, that the bird, which is 



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