General
Information is from dictionaries and other sources. Pinyin reflects Mandarin pronunciation; for some dialect names, it is no more than a polite fiction. Korean glosses are tentative. Comments and corrections welcome. Hover over Green Lettering Green lettering at this site hides a tool tip with glosses, further explanations, etc. Hover cursor to reveal. to see additional information.
The tropic birds are reportedly found in the Paracels, a disputed group of islands in the South China Sea now under Chinese control. They are also found in Taiwan.
The tropic birds are known as 热带鸟 'tropic zone bird' or 鹲 in Chinese. 热带鸟 'tropic zone bird' is a translation of the English-language name, which has been adopted either directly from English or via Japanese. The characters 热带 literally mean 'hot zone', i.e., 'torrid zone'. This name is found in older Chinese ornithological sources and is still used on Taiwan.
Mainland ornithologists now prefer 鹲 , which appears to be a revival of an old term (it originally referred to a semi-mythical bird) in order to replace 热带鸟 'tropic zone bird'.
Species names
SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH |
CHINESE |
EAST |
SOUTH | NORTH |
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Phaeton | ||||||||
Latin |
English |
Chinese |
Chinese (Taiwan) |
Other Ch |
Japanese |
Korean |
Vietnamese |
Mongolian |
Phaethon
aethereus |
Red-billed tropicbird Red-billed tropic bird Short-tailed tropic-bird |
红嘴鹲 (紅嘴鸏) 'red-billed meng' (1, 2, 4) 短尾鹲 (短尾鸏) 'short-tailed meng' (3, 5. alt in 1) |
アカハシネッタイチョウ (赤嘴熱帯鳥) aka-hashi nettai-chō 'red-billed tropic bird' |
Chim nhiệt đới 'tropic-zone bird' (12) |
Inner M: Улаан хошуут халуу ᠣᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨ ᠬᠣᠰᠢᠭᠣᠲᠣ ᠬᠠᠯᠠᠭᠣ ulaaŋ khoshuut khaluu 'red-billed heat' (31) |
Халуу khaluu, related to the word халуун khaluuŋ 'hot', clearly refers to the 'tropic' in 'tropicbird'. It can be found in two traditional spellings. That given here is from (31), which spells the name qaligu suggesting the word 'hot' (qaligun=халуун khaluuŋ). However, this is more normally read халгуу khalguu meaning 'mistaken'. The other spelling found in some dictionaries is qalu, which is unmistakably read халуу khaluu. However, while this spelling yields the correct pronunciation, the tropicbirds regrettably end up with an identical name to the cormorants in Inner Mongolia and to the first word in the name Халуу мэргэн khaluu mergeŋ or Osprey.
中国鸟类种和亚种分类名录大全(修订版) 郑作新 著 科学出版社 北京 2000年
A Complete Checklist of Species and Subspecies of the Chinese Birds (Revised Edition) by Cheng Tso-Hsin, Science Press, Beijing 2000
中国鸟类分类与分布名录 主编:郑光美 科学出版社 北京 2005年
A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of China Chief editor: Zheng Guangmei, Science Press, Beijing 2005
中国鸟类野外手册(中文版)约翰・马敬能、卡伦・菲利普斯,合作者:荷芬奇,翻译:卢和芬 湖南教育出版社 长沙 2000年
A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Chinese translation) by John MacKinnon, Karen Phillipps, in collaboration with He Fen-qi, translated by Lu Hefen, Hunan Jiaoyu Chubanshe (Hunan Educational Press) Changsha 2000
世界鸟类分类与分布名录 主编:郑光美 科学出版社 北京 2002年
A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of the World Chief editor: Zheng Guangmei, Science Press, Beijing 2002
世界鸟类名称(拉丁文、汉文、英文对照)第二版 郑作新等 科学出版社 北京 2002年
Birds of the World (Latin, Chinese and English Names) 2nd ed. by Cheng Tso-Hsin et al, Science Press, Beijing 2002
Danh Lục Chim Việt Nam (In lần thứ hai) (Checklist of the Birds of Vietnam) Võ Quý, Nguyễn Cử, Nhà Xuất Bản Nông Nghiệp, Hà Nội 1999
Chim Việt Nam Nguyễn Cử, Lê Trọng Trải, Karen Phillipps; Nhà Xuất Bản Lao Động - Xã Hội, 2000
汉蒙名词术语分类词典(自然科学部分) Mongolian (Cyrillic): Хятад Монгол нэр томъёоны зүйл хуваасан толь (байгалийн шинжлэх ухааны бүлэг) (Chinese-Mongolian classified terminological dictionary, natural sciences part) by 《汉蒙名词术语分类词典》编纂委员会 Mongolian (Cyrillic): "Хятад Монгол нэр томъёоны зүйл хуваасан толь" найруулах комисс (Chinese-Mongolian classified terminological dictionary editorial committee), Inner Mongolian People's Press, Hohhot 1990
Danh Lục Các Loài Chim ở Việt Nam (Latinh, Việt, Pháp, Hán) Trần Văn Chánh 2008-2009