Muscicapinae 7

The distribution of Muscicapinae in East Asia can be found at Tzung-Su Ding's Distribution of Muscicapini in East Asia and Distribution of Saxicolini in East Asia.

1. Birds of Hong Kong and South China (Viney et al) splits Cyornis glaucocomans off from Cyornis rubeculoides as a separate species, the Chinese flycatcher (中华仙鹟 Zhōnghuá xiān-wēng).

2. Cheng lists two Chinese names for Enicurus leschenaulti : 黑背燕尾 hēi-bèi yàn-wěi 'black-backed swallow-tail' and 白冠燕尾 bái-guàn yàn-wěi 'white-crowned swallow-tail'. The Black-backed forktail has since been split off as E. immaculatus.

3. The naming of Oenanthe pleschanka, O. hispanica, and O. picata is somewhat confused. The following table summarises the names found in various sources:

Scientific names	Cheng	Atlas of Birds of China	A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Yan et al)	Mackinnon & Phillipps	Zheng Guangmei
Oenanthe picata	-	-	-	东方斑 dōngfāng bān-jí 'oriental striped chat' or 斑 bān-jí 'striped chat' O. picata Variable wheatear	东方斑 dōngfāng bān-jí 'oriental striped chat' O. picata Eastern pied wheatear
Oenanthe pleschanka	-	-	-	白顶 bái-dǐng jí 'white-capped chat' O. pleschanka Pied whitear	斑 bān-jí 'striped chat' O. pleschanka Pied wheatear
Oenanthe hispanica	白顶 bái-dǐng jí 'white-capped chat' O. hispanica pleschanka Pied wheatear	白顶 bái-dǐng jí 'white-capped chat' O. hispanica Pied wheatear	白顶 bái-dǐng jí 'white-capped chat' O. hispanica Black-eared wheatear	-	白顶 bái-dǐng jí 'white-capped chat' O. hispanica Black-eared wheatear

The main problem is the divergence between Mackinnon & Phillipps and Zheng Guangmei's list.

4. The Chinese names for the Muscicapinae have essentially been 'manufactured' to follow the scientific nomenclature. While the raw materials are Chinese, the system is a totally new, in many ways artificial, creation.

(1) The character 鸲 qú, officially used for the robins in both Taiwan and China, did not refer to robins in traditional Chinese sources. In fact, it didn't stand alone as a bird's name, forming part of the word 鸲鹆 qúyù meaning 'myna'.

How, then, did it come to be applied to the robins? The answer may lie in Japanese. The Japanese names of the robins are based on the word 駒 koma meaning 'horse' or 'pony' (the left half of the character is, in fact, the character for 'horse'). The call of Erithacus akahige is said to resemble a horse's whinnying. These Japanese names already existed in the 19th century -- the scientific names Erithacus komadori is based on them (although foreign naturalists got akahige and komadori mixed up!)

At some stage in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, many Japanese bird names were borrowed by the Chinese in their written form. Did the Chinese feel compelled to find a more suitable character than 'horse' to describe the robins? Given that the character 鸲 already existed, swapping the 'bird' radical for the 'horse' radical - - i.e., changing 駒 into 鸲 -- would have resulted in a more acceptable name.

While this explanation may sound far-fetched, the Taiwanese names for the robins show a clear link, e.g., Luscinia calliope is referred to as the 'field robin' in both Japan and Taiwan, the only difference being the use of 駒 in Japanese and 鸲 in Chinese.

At any rate, this innovation resulted in the expansion of the meaning of 鸲 to refer to a class of birds that it did not previously cover.

(2) The character used on the Mainland for the stonechats, bushchats, and wheatears, , is also a modern innovation. Traditionally, this was the first character in jílíng, the Chinese name for Motacilla (wagtails), now usually written 鹡鸰. It's not clear why this was chosen for the chats and wheatears. (In Taiwan the chats are referred to as 鸲 qú).

Among the wheatears, Oenanthe oenanthe is called the 穗 suì-jí or 'grain-ear chat' in Chinese, curiously similar to English 'wheatear'. If Chinese is modelled on the English, as it seems at first glance, it is a rather misplaced borrowing. The wheatear in English was originally named not for its resemblance to a grain of wheat but for its white rump or 'white arse', which was later modified into 'wheatear' for obvious reasons.

5. Mainland ornithologists have regularised the names of the Muscicapini and Saxolini as follows (in some cases upset by new developments in the scientific classification):

Muscicapini:

Saxolini:

Erithaca/Luscinia:	歌鸲 gē-qú	('song robin')
Tarsiger:	林鸲 lín-qú	('forest/bush robin')
Phoenicurus :	红尾鸲 hóng-wěi-qú	('red-tailed robin')
Cinclidium :	地鸲 dì-qú	('ground robin')
Enicurus :	燕尾 yàn wěi	('swallow tail')
Cochoa :	宽嘴鸫 kuān-zuǐ-dōng	('broad-billed thrush')
Oenanthe :	jí	('chat')
Saxicola :	石 shí-jí 林 lín-jí	('stone chat') ('forest chat')

6. The Japanese names of the Muscicapinae hail from an earlier era than the Chinese. Unlike the Chinese names, they are not heavily regularised, particularly if exotic species are disregarded. Of course, the total number of species native to Japan is only 23, much less than the nearly 90 species found in China.

Note the variation between the forms ヒタキ hitaki and ビタキ bitaki. Bitaki is used only in compound words, while hitaki can be used both in compound words and on its own. There are cases where either hitaki or bitaki might be expected, and in fact there is some variation in usage.

7. The Vietnamese names are also heavily regularised. However, the number of distinctions is less than in Chinese and the system is accordingly less forced. (For details, see General Names).