Leiothrichidae
ガビチョウ科
gabi-chō ka

General

Information is from dictionaries and other sources. Species list may not be current. 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 Leiothrichidae are one of the main families resulting from the break-up of the former Timaliidae assemblage. (Others include parts of the Zosteropidae and Sylviidae.)

Japan has no native species belonging to the Leiothrichidae. The two local species are the Garrulax perspicallatus (the Spectacled or Masked Laughing-thrush), and the Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea), both of which are introduced species that have become naturalised.

1. The Masked Laughing-thrush is known as a kind of ガビチョウ gabi-chō 'painted-eyebrow-bird', written 画眉鳥 'painted eyebrow bird'. The name is derived from Chinese 画眉 huà-méi, the name of the Hwamei or Melodious Laughing-thrush.

2. The Red-billed Leiothrix is a popular cage bird known as ソウシチョウ 相思鳥 sōshi-chō 'mutual-love bird', also borrowed from Chinese 相思鸟 xiāngsī-niǎo. The name refers to their habit of singing to each other.

Species names

SCIENTIFIC & WESTERN		JAPANESE		CHINESE			KOREAN
Garrulax
Latin	Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru	Japanese	Other J	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Korean
Garrulax perspicillatus	Masked laughing-thrush Masked laughingthrush Spectacled laughing thrush Black-faced laughing-thrush Garrulaxe masqué Maskenhäherling	カオグロガビチョウ (顔黒画眉鳥) kao-guro gabi-chō 'black-faced painted-eyebrow-bird' (introduced)		黑脸噪鹛 (黑臉噪鶥) hēi-liǎn zào-méi 'black-faced noisy-babbler'		土画眉 (土畫眉) tǔ huà-méi 'earth/vulgar hwamei' (also Eremophila alpestris Horned Lark) 嘈杂鸫 (嘈雜鶇) cáozá dōng 'noisy thrush' 笑鸫 (笑鶇) xiào-dōng 'laughing-thrush' 眼镜笑鸫 (眼鏡笑鶇) yǎnjìng xiào-dōng 'spectacled laughing-thrush' 黑脸笑鸫 (黑臉笑鶇) hēi-liǎn xiào-dōng 'black-faced laughing-thrush' 黑面笑画眉 (黑面笑畫眉) hēi-miàn xiào huà-méi 'black-faced laughing hwamei' 吉吊 (吉吊) jídiào 'jidiao' 七姊妹 (七姊妹) qī zǐ-mèi 'seven sisters' 噪林鸟 (噪林鳥) zào lín-niǎo 'noisy forest bird'
Leiothrix
Latin	Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru	Japanese	Other J	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Korean
Leiothrix lutea	Red-billed leiothrix Pekin robin Red-billed robin Léiothrix jaune Sonnenvogel Китайский соловей	ソウシチョウ (相思鳥) sōshi-chō 'mutual-love bird' (introduced)		红嘴相思鸟 (紅嘴相思鳥) hóng-zuǐ xiāng-sī-niǎo 'red-billed mutual-love bird'		相思鸟 (相思鳥) xiāng-sī-niǎo 'mutual-love bird' 五彩相思鸟 (五彩相思鳥) wǔ-cǎi xiāng-sī-niǎo 'five-coloured mutual-love bird' 红嘴鸟 (紅嘴鳥) hóng-zuǐ niǎo 'red-billed bird' 红嘴玉 (紅嘴玉) hóng-zuǐ yù 'red-billed jade' 红嘴绿观音 (紅嘴綠觀音) hóng-zuǐ lǜ guānyīn 'red-billed green Guan'yin'

The term 畫眉鳥 gabi-chō 'painted-eyebrow-bird' is from Chinese 畫眉 huà-méi 'painted-eyebrow', which primarily refers to the Hwamei or Melodious Laughing-thrush (Leiothrichidae). It has been extended in ornithological Japanese to many of the laughing-thrushes (Garrulax and related genera) and occasionally other families.

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