Otididae

(鸨科 Bǎo kē ノガン科 No-gan ka Họ Ô tác)

(Note: Some CJV Family and subfamily names under Monroe and Sibley are only tentative at this stage)

1. General names

Chinese: The Otididae (or Otidae) are known as bǎo in Chinese. By itself, the name usually refers to the large bustard (Otis tarda). An alternative word for 'bustard' is 鸿豹 hóng bào (literally 'wild-goose leopard').

Japanese: The Japanese word for 'bustard' is ノガン no-gan meaning 'field goose', written either 野雁 'field goose' or (the Chinese character for 'bustard', see above).

Vietnamese: The only member of the bustards found in Vietnam is the Bengal florican (Eupodotis bengalensis), which is known as the Ô tác. Another word for bustards (from an ordinary dictionary) is Gà sếu '(crane fowl').

2. Species names

ABOUT THIS TABLE (Hover cursor to see)
SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH
CHINESE
JAPANESE
VIETNAMESE
Latin English Chinese Chinese (Taiwan) Other Ch Japanese Other J Vietnamese Other V
Tetrax tetrax/
Otis tetrax
binocularsbinoculars
Little bustard 小鸨
xiǎo bǎo
'small bustard'
    ヒメノガン
(姫野雁
or 姫鴇)
hime no-gan
'princess field-goose'
     
Otis tarda
binocularsbinoculars
Great bustard 大鸨
dà bǎo
'large bustard'
 
dì bǔ
'ground bu'
野雁
yě-yàn
'field goose' (Japanese?)
独豹
dú-bào
'solitary panther'

yáng bǔ
'sheep bu'

jī-bǔ
'fowl bu'

qīng bǔ
'blue black bu'
ノガン
(野雁
or 鴇)
no-gan
'field-goose'
     
Chlamydotis undulata/
Otis undulata
binoculars
Houbara bustard 波斑鸨
bō bān bǎo
'wave stripe bustard'
    フサエリショウノガン
(房襟小野雁
or 房襟小鴇)
fusa-eri shō no-gan
'tufted collar small field-goose'
フサエリノガン
(房襟野雁
or 房襟鴇)
fusa-eri no-gan
'tufted collar field-goose'
   
Eupodotis bengalensis/
Houbaropsis bengalensis
binoculars
Bengal florican 南亚鸨
Nán-yà bǎo
'South Asian bustard' (ZGM)
孟加拉鸨
Měngjiālā bǎo
'Bengal bustard' (ChengW)
  ベンガルショウノガン
(ベンガル小野雁
or ベンガル小鴇)
Bengaru shō no-gan
'Bengal small field-goose
ベンガルノガン
(ベンガル野雁
or ベンガル鴇)
Bengaru no-gan
'Bengal field-goose'
Ô tác
'o tac'
 

3. Notes

The distribution of Otididae in East Asia may be found at Tzung-Su Ding's Distribution of GRUIFORMES in East Asia.

4. Cultural Notes

In Chinese, the bustard was traditionally regarded as a sexually promiscuous bird and its name is found in some words describing lustful old whores.

An example of this can be seen in the Journey to the West, a sixteenth-century Chinese novel (as translated by Arthur Waley in Monkey):

Monkey whisked out of the water, and changed himself into a freckled bustard (花鸨), standing all alone on the bank. Seeing that he had reached the lowest possible stage in transformation, for the freckled bustard is the lowest and most promiscuous of creatures, mating at hazard with any bird that comes its way, Erh-lang did not deign to close with him.