Lesser cuckoo
Species of bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The lesser cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.
| Lesser cuckoo | |
|---|---|
| |
| Song recorded in Japan | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Cuculiformes |
| Family: | Cuculidae |
| Genus: | Cuculus |
| Species: | C. poliocephalus |
| Binomial name | |
| Cuculus poliocephalus Latham, 1790 | |
It is native to East Asia and the Himalayas ; it winters to East Africa and Sri Lanka.
In culture
In Japan, the bird is called hototogisu (ホトトギス/杜鵑) and frequently praised in senryu for its song.
It has been celebrated by numerous waka poets since the anthology Kokin wakashū (920).[2] Sei Shōnagon in her essay The Pillow Book (1002) mentions a trip she and other courtiers mounted on just to hear this bird, and it was expected of them that they would compose poetry on the occasion.[3] It is also the central image in poem 81 by Tokudaiji Sanesada in the anthology of 100 poems, the Hyakunin Isshu.[4]
The Japanese haiku magazine Hototogisu takes its name from the bird,[5] and the magazine's mastermind Masaoka Shiki's adopted pen name, Shiki (子規) also refers to the lesser cuckoo;[6] shiki corresponds to the Chinese zǐguī (子規), which is an alias for its standard name dùjuān (杜鵑).[7]
In Chinese, dùjuān is a generic name and the species' common name is xiāodùjuān (小杜鵑).[7]
In Korean literature, the song of the lesser cuckoo represents the sound of sadness.[citation needed]
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