Japanese bush warbler

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Japanese bush warbler

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cettiidae
Genus: Horornis
Species:
H. diphone
Binomial name
Horornis diphone
(Kittlitz, 1830)
Synonyms

Cettia diphone

Eggs of the Japanese bush warbler.

The Japanese bush warbler (Horornis diphone), known in Japanese as uguisu (鶯), is an Asian

song can be heard throughout much of Japan from the start of spring
.

Description

The Japanese bush warbler is olive brown above and tending toward dusky colors below. It has pale eyebrows. It has a beak that curves up making it look like it is smiling. The bird is typically 15.5 centimetres (6.1 in) in length.[2]

Distribution and habitat

The Japanese bush warbler is a common year-round resident throughout Japan (except

Hokkaidō, Manchuria, Korea, and central China. In winter, the bush-warbler can also be found in southern China and Taiwan.[2]

It was introduced to Oahu between 1929–1941 and has since spread throughout the main Hawaiian Islands.[3]

In summer, it ranges from low hills to high mountains, preferring bamboo thickets and black pine trees. In winter it seeks cover at lower elevations.[2]

Relationship to humans

The propensity of the Japanese bush warbler to sing has led to the birds being kept as cage birds. Robert Young records that to encourage singing the cages of kept birds were covered with a wooden box with a small paper window that allowed only subdued light in.[4] Along with the return of the barn swallow the bush warbler's call is viewed by Japanese as a herald of springtime.

It is one of the favorite motifs of

ume blossom, and appears with ume on hanafuda
playing cards. There is also a popular Japanese sweet named Uguisu-boru (Uguisu Balls) which consists of brown and white balls meant to resemble ume flower buds. However, the distinctive song is not usually heard until later in spring, well after the ume blossoms have faded. In haiku, the bird with this song is known as sasako, and the song is called sasanaki.

The beauty of its song led to the English name Japanese Nightingale,

nightingale does.[6]
This name is no longer commonly used.

An uguisu-jō (jō = woman) is a female announcer at Japanese baseball games, or a woman employed to advertise products and sales with a microphone outside retail stores. These women are employed because of their beautiful 'warbling' voices. They are also employed to make public announcements for politicians in the lead-up to elections.

In Japanese architecture there is a type of floor known as

uguisubari, which is generally translated into English as "nightingale floor". These floors have squeaking floorboards that resemble the Japanese bush warbler's low chirping, and are meant to be so designed to warn sleepers of the approach of ninja. Examples can be seen at Eikan-dō temple, Nijō Castle and Chion-in
temple in Kyoto.

The nightingale's droppings contain an enzyme that has been used for a long time as a skin whitening agent and to remove fine wrinkles. It is sometimes sold as "uguisu powder". The droppings are also used to remove stains from kimono.

Songs

This section includes inline links to audio files. If you have trouble playing the files, see
Wikipedia Media help
.
Japanese bush warbler singing.
  • Pi pi pi... kekyo kekyo Hooo- hoke'kyo Hoohokekyo. Young Japanese bush warblers do not initially perform the "hoohokekyo" song skillfully, but gradually learn to sing by imitating others in the vicinity.
  • Hooo- hokekyo, hooo- hokekyo. The songs of two Japanese bush warblers are recorded here on a single file.

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T22714380A111072668.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-87011-746-7
    .
  3. ^ Japanese Bush Warbler Retrieved April 22, 2017
  4. ^ a b Robert Young. Yedo and Peking. London: John Murray, 1863. viii. 120.
  5. ^ Frank Reynolds and Jason A. Carbine. The Life of Buddhism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. 32.
  6. ^ Catarina Blomberg. The West's Encounter with Japanese Civilization: 1800-1940. Tokyo: Japan Library (Curzon Press), 2000. 52.

Hamao, S. and M. Hayama, 2015. Breeding ecology of the Japanese Bush Warbler in the Ogasawara Islands. Ornithological Science, 14: 111–115.

Hamao S (1997) Ippu-tasai no tori: Uguisu (A polygynous bird: the Japanese Bush Warbler). Bun-ichi Sogo Shuppan, Tokyo (in Japanese).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cettia diphone.
Wikispecies has information related to Cettia diphone.
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