Lesser cuckoo
The lesser cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is native to East Asia and the Himalayas; it winters to East Africa and Sri Lanka.
| Lesser cuckoo | |
|---|---|
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| Song recorded in Japan | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Cuculiformes |
| Family: | Cuculidae |
| Genus: | Cuculus |
| Species: | C. poliocephalus
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| Binomial name | |
| Cuculus poliocephalus Latham, 1790
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The lesser cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.
It is native to East Asia and the Himalayas; it winters to East Africa and Sri Lanka.
In culture
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In Japan, the bird is called hototogisu (ホトトギス/杜鵑) and frequently praised in senryu for its song.
It has been celebrated by numerous waka poets since the anthology Kokin wakashū (920).[2] Sei Shōnagon in her essay The Pillow Book (1002) mentions a trip she and other courtiers mounted on just to hear this bird, and it was expected of them that they would compose poetry on the occasion.[3] It is also the central image in poem 81 by Tokudaiji Sanesada in the anthology of 100 poems, the Hyakunin Isshu.[4]
The Japanese haiku magazine Hototogisu takes its name from the bird,[5] and the magazine's mastermind Masaoka Shiki's adopted pen name, Shiki (子規) also refers to the lesser cuckoo;[6] shiki corresponds to the Chinese zǐguī (子規), which is an alias for its standard name dùjuān (杜鵑).[7]
In Chinese, dùjuān is a generic name and the species' common name is xiāodùjuān (小杜鵑).[7]
In Korean literature, the song of the lesser cuckoo represents the sound of sadness.[citation needed]
References
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- ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Cuculus poliocephalus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016 e.T22683889A93005868. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22683889A93005868.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- ^ Keene, Donald (1999), Travelers of a Hundred Ages, Columbia University Press, p. 429, ISBN 978-0-231-11437-0
- ^ Sei Shōnagon (1991), "65 It Was during the Abstinence of the Fifth Month", The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, translated by Ivan Morris, Columbia University Press, pp. 118–125, ISBN 978-0-231-07337-0
- ^ Porter, William N. (1979), "81 The Minister-of-the-Left of the Tokudai Temple", A Hundred Verses from Old Japan (The Hyakunin-isshu), Library of Alexandria, p. 81, ISBN 978-1-4655-7943-0
- ^ Higginson, William J. (1985). The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku. Tokyo: Kodansha International (published 1989). p. 27.
While editing Hototogisu ('cuckoo'), the magazine founded under Shiki's guidance, Takahama Kyoshi (1874-1959) had devoted...
- ^ Sato, Hiroaki (2014), Japanese Women Poets: An Anthology: An Anthology, Routledge, p. 381, ISBN 978-1-317-46696-3
- ^ a b Zhongyao bieming sucha dacidian 中药别名速查大辞典. 学苑出版社. 1997. p. 315. ISBN 978-7-5077-1023-6. (in Chinese)
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