Acrocephalinae

The Acrocephalinae are part of the Sylviidae, a huge family including tesias, warblers, tailorbirds, grass birds, laughing thrushes, and babblers.

The Acrocephalinae include the tesias (Tesia), stubtails (Urosphena), bush warblers (Cettia, Bradypterus), grasshopper warblers (Locustella), reed warblers (Acrocephalus), tailorbirds (Orthotomus), leaf warblers (Phylloscopus), and flycatcher warblers (Seicercus, Tickellia, Abroscopus).

I have adopted M & P's 苇莺亚科 Wěi-yīng yà-kē ('reed warblers') as the Chinese name.

Chinese: All members of the family are known in Chinese as 莺 yīng, a form which is not likely to be found on its own, especially in speech, where yīng is normally understood as 'eagle' (鹰 yīng). The 'common names' used by naturalists have been heavily regularised.

Some more common birds have rather colloquial popular names, especially cage birds such as Acrocephalus orientalis.

Japanese: The most famous member of the family is the ウグイス uguisu (Cettia diphone), written with the same character as Chinese, 鴬. The bird is celebrated in poetry for its song and has a large number of alternative names. In English it is sometimes referred to as the 'Japanese nightingale'. ウグイス uguisu is also used in the names of other members of the Cettia.

Other names are (native Japanese birds only):

The name サイホウチョウ saihō-chō 'sewing bird' (written 裁縫鳥) is used for the tailor birds.