amaui

English

Etymology

A corruption of Manu a Maui

Noun

amaui (plural amauis)

1. An extinct species of Hawaiian thrush, formerly having the taxon Phaeornis palmeri but now classified as Myadestes oahuensis.
   • 1997, Walton Beacham, World Wildlife Fund Guide to Extinct Species of Modern Times, page 158:

     Amaui inhabited the edges of forested areas of the island of Oahu including the dense damp to wet habitats of the ohia-koa forests.

   • 2012, George C. Munro, Birds of Hawaii:

     In regard to a Phaeornis formerly inhabiting Maui Perkins says "I was assured by a native who was familiar with the brids that years ago amaui was abundant in the Iao Valley.

   • 2022, Susan Myers, The Bird Name Book: A History of English Bird Names, page 155:

     The 1800s naturalists Bloxam, Andrews, and Dole noted that the original name of the thrushes on all the islands was Amaui and that the different island names were merely corruptions of this—so that the names of the individual species are all phonetically quite similar —we have Kamao on Kauai; Omao on Hawaii; Olomao on Maui, Molokai, and Lanai; and Amaui on Oahu.