Stenostiridae
莺鹟科
yīng-wēng kē

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 Stenostiridae are a small family which in Asia includes a former member of the fantails (Rhipiduridae) and canary-flycatchers from the Muscicapidae.

Both were classed with the Muscicapidae at an earlier stage and are thus known in ornithological Chinese as 鹟 wēng 'flycatcher'. The Fairy-Fantail (Chelidorhynx hypoxanthus) shares the same name as the rhipidurids, 扇尾鹟 shàn-wěi-wēng 'fan-tailed flycatcher' as this is the family that it was most recently assigned to.

According to sources, 鹟 wēng was an old Chinese character for an unspecified kind of bird which was used to write hitaki 'flycatcher' in Japanese since no other suitable character was available. 鹟 was then adopted into Chinese as an equivalent of English 'flycatcher' in creating ornithological names.

However, 鹟 wēng may have some background in Chinese. 翁 wēng (without the bird radical) means both 'old man' and the 'feathers on the nape of a bird's neck' in Classical Chinese. The Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) is known as 白头翁 bái-tóu wēng 'white-headed old man' and two muscicapid species are known as 鹟 wēng in folk usage: the White-capped Water Redstart (Chaimarrornis leucocephalus) is 白顶鹟 bái-dǐng wēng 'white-capped weng' and the Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) is 白头鹟 bái-tóu wēng 'white-headed weng'. Japanese use of 鶲 for hitaki is conceivably based on some kind of Chinese model.

Family name

Proposed Chinese names for the Stenostiridae include 仙莺科 xiān-yīng kē 'fairy warbler family' (from the species Stenostira) and 莺鹟科 yīng-wēng kē 'warbler flycatcher family'.

Species names

SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH		CHINESE			EAST		SOUTH	NORTH
Chelidorhynx
Latin	English	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Japanese	Korean	Vietnamese	Mongolian
Chelidorhynx hypoxanthus Rhipidura hypoxantha	Fairy-fantail Yellow-bellied Fantail Yellow-bellied fantail flycatcher	黄腹扇尾鹟 (黃腹扇尾鶲) huáng-fù shàn-wěi-wēng 'yellow-bellied fan-tailed flycatcher'			キバラオウギビタキ (黄腹扇鶲) ki-bara ōgi-bitaki 'yellow-bellied fan flycatcher'		Chim Rẻ quạt bụng vàng 'yellow-bellied fanspoke bird' (12, 34)
Culicicapa
Latin	English	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Japanese	Korean	Vietnamese	Mongolian
Culicicapa ceylonensis	Grey-headed canary-flycatcher Grey-headed canary flycatcher Grey-headed flycatcher	方尾鹟 (方尾鶲) fāng-wěi wēng 'square-tailed flycatcher'	(方尾鹟) 方尾鶲 fāng-wěi wēng 'square-tailed flycatcher'		ハイムネヒタキ (灰胸鶲) hai-mune hitaki 'grey-breasted flycatcher'		Chim Đớp ruồi đầu xám 'grey-headed fly-snapping bird' (12, 13, 34)

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

Danh Lục Các Loài Chim ở Việt Nam (Latinh, Việt, Pháp, Hán) Trần Văn Chánh 2008-2009