Strigidae 2

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

1. Otus bakkamoena

Otus bakkamoena (Collared scops owl) has conventionally been regarded as one species with a distribution from Japan through Maritime Russia, Korea, and China to S. E. Asia. Almost all sources consulted use the name O. bakkamoena, with the exception of Vo & Nguyen, who identify it as O. lempiji (English common name, Collared scops owl). The distribution of subspecies in East Asia is as follows (following Cheng, Hiraizumi, and Robson):

Apart from O. b. lettia and O. b. erythrocampe, Robson notes that the distribution and identification of other subspecies in Southeast Asia is 'uncertain, situation complex and unresolved'.

Many sources (although not Howard & Moore 2003) now break O. bakkamoena into the following species: O. bakkamoena, O. lempiji,O. lettia, and O. semitorques.

The following are English common names for some of those species, along with some suggested common names in CJV languages.

2. Ninox japonica (Northern Boobook) is now considered a full species (previously subspecies of Ninox scutulata).

3. Nyctea scandiaca is now classed as Bubo scandiaca

4. English is a very 'owl-poor' language compared with even German or French (e.g., 'Eule/Kauz/Uhu' in German, 'grand duc/petit duc/hibou/chouette' in French), having to make do with the one term 'owl' and its diminutive 'owlet' for a whole range of birds. It's not surprising that CJV have a richer vocabulary.

As noted above, the popular name for owls is 猫头鹰 māo-tóu-yīng or 夜猫子 yè-māozi (dialect). These terms appear to refer particularly, but not solely, to owls with 'ears'.

The official naming of owls uses terms that are more literary in character. However, the Xiandai Han'yu Cidian and the Cihai disagree somewhat on the relationship among the different terms.

The Xiandai Han'yu Cidian divides the Strigidae into 'owls' (鸱鸺 chī-xiū or 猫头鹰 māo-tóu-yīng) and 'owlets' (鸺鹠 xiū-liú or 小枭 xiǎo xiāo). The term 鸮 xiāo refers to owls as a whole.

On the other hand, the Cihai claims that 枭 xiāo, 鸮 xiāo, and 猫头鹰 māo-tóu-yīng are all general terms for owls in Strigidae (see table below). The term 鸱鸺 chī-xiū is not mentioned and 鸺鹠 xiū-liú is simply the name for one species (cuculoides).

6. Japanese: The characters used to represent the word mimi-zuku are interesting. 木菟, meaning 'tree + a kind of plant', has been taken from Chinese to represent the meaning'owl' but bears no relation to the sound or etymology of the Japanese word mimi-zuku. The word can also be found written 木兔 meaning 'tree rabbit'. In Chinese the same term can also be written 木鵵 'tree owl' . (The use of different characters is not unusual in Chinese. It is possible that the owls were initially identified as 'tree rabbits', and the alternative characters then came into use in an attempt to distinguish the two in writing. The most reasonable solution is to use 鵵, which consists of rabbit + bird, but for some reason 菟, referring to a kind of plant, also came into use and appears to be the preferred form in Japanese.)

The other characters used for writing mimi-zuku, 鴟鵂 and 角鴟, are both found in modern Chinese. 鴟鵂 chī xiū is used for the owls in general. 角鴟 jiǎo-chī ('horned owl') is an alternative name for Bubo bubo (Eagle owl). The word 鴟 originally referred to the 'hawk' in Chinese; in Japanese it is traditionally read tobi meaning 'kite'.

7. Vietnamese: As seen above, Vietnamese ornithologists have assigned different names to owls in different groups. However, some of the terms used do not seem to be recognised in the normal Vietnamese vocabulary.

• Dù dì (fish owl) is missing from older dictionaries, although more recent dictionaries do list it.
• Hù (wood owl) is not listed in any dictionaries of normal usage, not even in those published as recently as 1999. At this stage I am not sure where the word comes from. Whether it is a dialect word or a coinage, it has obviously been pressed into service by ornithologists to differentiate a category of owl that normal spoken Vietnamese does not distinguish.

The Chinese terms used for owls have interesting backgrounds in ancient texts:

鸱 chī referred to sparrow hawks.
鸮 xiāo referred to the owls.
枭 xiāo also referred to owls, with an associated legend that they were evil birds that ate their own mothers. The character is used in number of expressions related to ferocity and bravery.
鸱鸮 chī-xiāo, used for the Strigidae, also refers to evil birds believed to correspond to members of the owl family.