Accipitrinae 5

The distribution of the Accipitrinae in East Asia can be seen at Tzung-Su Ding's Distribution of Falconides in East Asia.

1. Milvus migrans has the subspecies Milvus m. govinda and M. m. lineatus (Cheng Tso-Hsin, Robson, Howard & Moore). These have also been treated as separate species (M. migrans and M. lineatus), with the following distribution:

Howard & Moore 2003, who do split the two, also give a third East Asian subspecies, M. m. formasanus, found in Taiwan and Hainan.

The Chinese names for the above species and subspecies before and after splitting are:

Zheng Guangmei's World Checklist does not recognise the split, listing only M. migrans (黑鸢 hēi-yuān 'black kite'). Note also that Cheng at one stage treated M. m. lineatus as M. korschun lineatus.

4. Chinese naming:

Although Chinese is rich in names for the Accipitrinae, actual usage shows considerable confusion. Chinese speakers exhibit a nonchalant disregard for many distinctions. The 鵰 diāo, 鹫 jiù, and 鹰 yīng are all lumped together as 鹰 yīng, which tends to be used as an indiscriminate term for almost any kind of hawk or eagle. 老鹰 lǎo-yīng ('old hawk'), supposedly meaning 'kite', is also loosely used as a general word for 'hawk' or 'eagle'. For instance, an 'eagle' in golf is referred to as 老鹰 lǎo-yīng as is the musical group 'The Eagles'. In a spoken context, terms such as 鵰 diāo, 鹫 jiù, and 鸢 yuān will not necessarily be readily understood by non-specialists.

Not surprisingly, ornithologists have tried to tidy up the official names. The highly regularised 'common names' are as follows:

As can be seen, 鵰 diāo is used for large eagles in general. (Mainland ornithologists use the non-standard simplification for diāo. The officially recognised simplification is 雕, a homophonous character meaning 'sculpt'). 鹰 yīng is used for the hawks (Accipiter). Sparrow hawks are officially known as 雀鹰 què-yīng (literally 'sparrow hawk'). The buzzard eagles are known as 鵟鹰 kuáng -yīng (literally 'buzzard hawk'). 鹫 jiù is used for the vultures.

Sometimes regularisation runs counter to both popular and general non-specialist usage.

(a) Traditionally, 鵰 diāo and 鹫 jiù both mean 'eagle' or 'vulture'. This is still the case in Taiwan. However, Mainland ornithologists now distinguish 鹫 jiù for vultures and 鵰 diāo for eagles. The 1999 Cihai encyclopedia points out that 'in the old days eagles (diāo) were mistakenly called jiù, e.g., sea eagles were called hǎi-jiù '. With due respect to the Cihai, standard dictionaries of Mainland Chinese still commit this 'error', including the 1999 edition of the Xiandai Han'yu Xidian, which explicitly equates 鹫 jiù to 鵰 diāo.

(b) The Sparrow hawk, Accipter nisus, is officially known as the 雀鹰 què-yīng. Traditionally it is known as the 鹞 yào (colloquially as the 鹞子 yàozi). However, 鹞 yào has also popularly been applied to several other birds, including the Chinese goshawk (Accipiter soloensis), the Hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), and the Marsh harrier (Circus spilonotus).

Mainland ornithologists have resolved this by restricting 鹞 yào to the harriers (genus Circus). This effectively relegates the main traditional meaning, Sparrow hawk, to the status of an erroneous 'popular' usage.

Since both innovations fly in the face of established usage, they risk pushing official and popular usage even further apart.

They also drive a wedge between Japanese and Chinese terminology. If the new usage becomes widely accepted, 鹫 will mean 'vulture' in Chinese and 'eagle' in Japanese, and 鹞 will mean 'harrier' in Chinese and 'sparrowhawk' in Japanese.

5. Taiwanese naming:

Usage has not been regularised like the Mainland and, moreover, reveals some Japanese influence. For instance, the Taiwanese term for Hodgson's hawk eagle is 熊鷹 xióng-yīng ('bear hawk'), paralleling Japanese kuma-taka 熊鷹. By contrast, the Mainland term is 鹰鵰 yīng-diāo, paralleling English 'hawk eagle' (although 熊鷹 xióng-yīng can also be encountered on the Mainland).

The crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela) is called 大冠鷲 dà guàn-jiù ('great crested eagle') in Taiwan, similar to 冠鷲 kanmuri washi ('crested eagle') in Japanese (Mainland 蛇鵰 shé-diāo 'serpent eagle').

6. Japanese naming:

The official names in Japanese are:

• ワシ washi is used for the large eagles in Aquila as well as the sea or fishing eagles (Haliaeetus/Ichthyophaga), black eagle (Ictinaetus), short-toed eagle ( Circaetus), and serpent eagle (Spilornis).
• ハゲワシ hage-washi 'bald eagle' is used for the vultures.
• タカ taka in the broad sense refers to all the smaller and medium-sized members of the Accipitrinae. In a narrower sense, it is applied to most of the hawks (Accipiter). hai-taka is used for the northern sparrow hawk Accipiter nisus. tsumi is used for Accipiter gularis and Accipiter virgatus.
• クマタカ kuma-taka 'bear hawk' is used for the hawk eagles (Hieraaetus/Spizaetus).
  
• トビ tobi is used for the kites.
• ノスリ nosuri is used for the buzzards.
• サシバ sashiba is used for the buzzard eagles.
• チュウヒ chūhi is used for the harriers (Circus).
• ハチクマ hachi-kuma 'bee bear' is used for the honey buzzard.
• カッコウハヤブサ kakkō-hayabusa 'cuckoo falcon' refers to the bazas. As is the case of the Chinese, this is based on English usage, which was previously to call the bazas 'cuckoo falcons'.

7. Vietnamese naming:

The Vietnamese official names are:

• Đại bàng is applied to most of the large eagles, including the genera Aquila, Haliaeetus, Hieraaetus, and Ictinaetus. In addition, the cinereous vulture Aegypius monachus is also called a Đại bàng.
• Diều is applied to a wide range of birds, including the baza, honey buzzard, kites, fishing eagles (Ichthyophaga), buzzards, harriers, and hawk eagles in Spizaetus.
• Ưng is used for the hawks (Accipiter).
• Ó is used for the Red-headed vulture (Aegypius/Sarcogyps calvus) as well as the Osprey (Pandioninae). This is much narrower than the popular meaning of Ó, which is used for all kinds of eagles.
• Kền kền is used for vultures belonging to Gyps or Pseudogyps.

2. In Japanese haiku, the hawk or 鷹 taka is a season word for winter.

3. The Japanese expression 鵜の目鷹の目 u no me taka no me 'eyes of a cormorant, eyes of a hawk' refers to looking for something with sharp or keen eyes.

4. The Vietnamese expression ưng khuyển or khuyển ưng, meaning 'vultures and dogs', refers to lackeys and servants.