Ardeidae 2

The distribution of the Ardeidae in East Asia can be found at Tzung-Su Ding's Distribution of Ciconiides in East Asia.

Chinese:

• Mainland Chinese ornithologists use the simplified form yán, which is a non-standard simplification of a character that is not found in either Simplified or Traditional character sets. The object of using this simplification is presumably to avoid confusion with 鳽, which has the reading jiān and refers to a different bird, species undetermined, in Classical Chinese. Notwithstanding, in conformity with common practice, I have used 鳽 in place of in this site. However, in the tables placing your mouse over 鳽 will bring up the original character.
• In the official mainland nomenclature, bitterns belonging to Gorsachius have been regularised as 'night bitterns' and those belonging to Ixobrychus as 'reed bitterns'.
• The Taiwanese 'Far East English-Chinese Dictionary' (1994) gives the term 五位鷺 wǔ-wèi-lù as the Chinese translation for 'night heron'. This is a clear case of Japanese influence that has not been adopted in the official names.

Japanese: Bittern names have been regularised. Members of Gorsachius are known as 'ditch bitterns' and members of Ixobrychus 'reed bitterns'.

Vietnamese:

Nguyen, Le & Phillipps rearrange the names of herons so that:

• Three members of Ixobrychus become Cò lùn or 'dwarf co'.
• The remaining member, Ixobrychus flavicollis, is called Cò đen 'black co'. Egretta sacra ('Reef heron') is renamed Diệc đen 'black heron' to avoid a clash in names.
• The name Cò ngàng nhỏ 'small co ngang' is assigned to both the Intermediate and Little egrets (Ardea intermedia and Egretta garzetta), which appears to be an error.

1. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China, the Egret (鹭鸶) was depicted in 'Mandarin Squares' (known as 补子 bǔzi) attached to official uniforms of the high-ranking bureaucrats. It was the insignia of rank for Grade Six of civilian official.

3. There is a quaint story behind the odd choice of characters for the bittern in Japanese. The Emperor Daigo once asked his retainers to capture one of the birds. The bird was docile and easily caught, and as a reward the Emperor is said to have conferred on it the title of 'fifth rank' (五位 goi) in the court aristocracy.

4. Herons and bitterns are favourites for similes and folk expressions in Vietnamese. For example:

Mệt lử cò bợ 'exhausted (as a) Chinese pond-heron' = 'dog-tired, exhausted'

Làng cò bợ 'band of Chinese pond-herons' = 'drunkards'

Người như cò hương 'body like a black bittern' = 'skinny as a rake, thin as a lath'

Ốm như cò ma 'sick as a cattle egret' = 'sick as a dog, very ill'

Kêu như vạc 'cry like a night heron' = 'cry incessantly'