- Coraciidae - 佛法僧科 -

General names

Information is based on dictionaries and other sources. Comments and corrections welcome.

The only member of the rollers found in Taiwan is the Dollarbird, known as the 佛法僧 fó-fǎ-sēng, which means 'Buddha-law-monk'. The name derives from Japanese. Originally the Japanese believed that the call of the Dollarbird sounded like buppōsō, meaning 'Buddha-law-monk' (written 仏法僧). In 1936 it was found that the call in question was not that of the Dollarbird at all -- it was the Scops Owl -- but the name was too well established to change.

The Buddha, the law, and the monks are the 'three treasures' of Buddhism, which gives rise to the Mainland name for the Dollarbird: 三寶鳥 sān-bǎo-niǎo ('three treasures bird').

Species names

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SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH		CHINESE			JAPANESE		OTHER
Latin	English	Chinese (Taiwan)	Chinese (Mainland)	Other Ch	Japanese	Other J	Korean	Vietnamese
Eurystomus
Eurystomus orientalis	Dollarbird Eastern broad-billed roller Broad-billed roller	佛法僧 fó-fǎ-sēng 'buddha law monk'	三寶鳥 sān-bǎo-niǎo 'three treasure bird'	東方寬嘴轉鳥 dōngfāng kuān-zuǐ zhuǎn-niǎo 'eastern wide-billed rolling bird' (old scientific name) 老鴰翠 lǎo-guā cuì 'crow kingfisher' 闊嘴鳥 kuò-zuǐ-niǎo 'broad-billed bird' 海南了 Hāinán liǎo 'Hainan liao' (grackle?)	ブッポウソウ (仏法僧) buppōsō 'buddha law monk'		파랑새 parang-sae 'blue bird'	Yểng quạ 'raven mynah'

Coraciidae / 佛法僧科 (Fófǎsēng kē)

General names

Species names