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Mr. Coultas and "his" birds (1 Viewer)

Björn Bergenholtz

(former alias "Calalp")
Sweden
Here´s some additinal details on yet another guy (passing by in the outskirts of my MS) commemorated in the scientific name ...

coultasi as in:
• subspecies Rhipidura cockerelli coultasi MAYR 1931(American Museum Novitates, No.502, p.5)
• the debated subspecies (or species) New Britain Flyrobin Monachella (muelleriana) coultasi MAYR 1934 (AMN, No.709, p.14)
• subspecies (Collocalia) Aerodramus vanikorensis coultasi MAYR 1937 (AMN, No.915, p.7)
• subspecies Aviceda subcristata coultasi MAYR 1945 (AMN, No.1294, p.11)
• subspecies (Monarcha) Symposiachrus infelix coultasi MAYR 1955 (AMN, No.1707, p.28)

All the OD's above is found here, all commerating the collector of the various Types, mentioned simply as "W. F. Coultas", with little else info, only the latter is a bit more outspoken:
Named in honor of W. F. Coultas who has contributed so much to our knowledge of the ornithology of the Bismarck Archipelago
= the US biologist William "Bill" Ferrell Coultas (18991965), collector in the Pacific during the Whitney South Sea Expedition (at least in 1929 until 1935), in 1936 he (together with Tashio Asaeda) took part of the C. Tepleton Expedition to Laysan (Hawaii), in 1937–38 he explored the Orinoco River, Venezuela in South America (together with Gilliard, the Phelps's, Dillon and Tate) ... and onwards ... if ever a "Dr." (as have been claimed) is unknown to me.

Also see the following links; here, here, here (p.7-8), here, here and here (or here).
William Coultas, an American biologist, visited Kosrae as a member of the Whitney South Sea Expeditions of the AMNH from 15 January to 11 June 1931 (Coultas 1931). He collected 426 specimens of 22 species for the museum, a few of which were traded or sold to the DMNH. Coultas provided the first relatively complete list of Kosraean birds names. Some of his specimens from Kosrae were reported by others (Bogert 1937, Mayr and Amadon 1941, Ripley and Birckhead 1942, Stickney 1943).
And: In 1939 (here, p.67) he apparently was in Congo collecting hats! ;)

However; enjoy!

Björn

PS. And, as always; don´t hesitate to prove me wrong! There are quite a few "William F. Coultas" out there, and (as I mentioned at the start of this post) this guy is only mentioned in the margins of my MS (thereby not fully checked).
 
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