Plectrophenacidae
雪鵐科
xuě-wú kē

General

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This family previously formed part of the Emberizidae (buntings) and therefore uses the same ornithological name, 鵐 wú 'bunting'. This term originally entered Chinese from Japanese, where the character 鵐 -- originally referring to a type of sparrow or quail in Chinese -- was used to write the old Japanese name シトド shitodo 'bunting' because no appropriate character was available in Chinese.

The seminal work Zoological Nomenclature, published in Shanghai in 1923, relied heavily on Japanese naming (written, of course, in Chinese characters) and generalised 鵐 well beyond its original scope in Japanese to cover every kind of bunting. Despite the recommendation in Chinese Birds of 1927 (35) to use 雀 què 'sparrow' or 'finch' for the buntings, later authorities adopted 鵐 wú as a means of differentiating the buntings from other small birds called 雀 què.

The current name of the Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) is the same as that recommended by Zoological Nomenclature in 1923. The name of the Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus) fuses a Chinese folk name, 鐵爪子 tiě-zhuǎzi 'iron claw' with ornithological 鵐 wú.

Species names

Calcarius
Latin	English	Chinese (Taiwan)	Chinese (Mainland)	Other Ch	Japanese	Other J	Korean	Vietnamese
Calcarius lapponicus	Lapland longspur Lapland bunting	(铁爪鵐) 鐵爪鵐 tiě-zhǎo wú 'iron-clawed bunting'	铁爪鹀 (鐵爪鵐) tiě-zhǎo wú 'iron-clawed bunting'	(铁雀) 鐵雀 tiě-què 'iron sparrow' (铁爪子) 鐵爪子 tiě zhuǎzi 'iron claw' (northern) (35) (雪眉子) 雪眉子 xuě-méizi 'snow eyebrow' (northern) (35) (拉玻兰雀) 拉玻蘭雀 lābōlán-què 'Lapland sparrow' (early ornithological) (35)	ツメナガホオジロ (爪長頬白) tsume-naga hō-jiro 'long-nailed white-cheek'		긴발톱멧새 gin-bal-tom-mes-sae 'long-toe-nail mountain bird'
Plectrophenax
Latin	English	Chinese (Taiwan)	Chinese (Mainland)	Other Ch	Japanese	Other J	Korean	Vietnamese
Plectrophenax nivalis	Snow bunting	(雪鹀) 雪鵐 xuě wú 'snow bunting'	雪鹀 (雪鵐) xuě wú 'snow bunting'	(雪雀) 雪雀 xuě-què 'snow sparrow' (early ornithological) (35)	ユキホオジロ (雪頬白) yuki hō-jiro 'snow white-cheek'		흰멧새 huin-mes-sae 'white mountain bird'

The word ホオジロ hō-jiro 'white cheek' is used for a number of buntings as well as snow buntings and longspurs. It can be written in Chinese characters in several ways: 1. characters literally meaning 'cheek-white' in Japanese (頬白 hō-jiro), 2. 黄道眉, literally meaning 'yellow-line eyebrow', from Chinese, and 3. 画眉鳥 gabi-chō literally 'painted eyebrow bird', also from Chinese, normally used for the hwamei.

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

中国鸟类分布名录 第二版 郑作新 科学出版社 北京 1976年
(Checklist of the Classification of Birds of China 2nd edition by Cheng Tso-Hsin, Science Press, Beijing 1976)

香港及華南鳥類（第六版）（翻譯成中文及重新修訂） 尹璉、費嘉倫、林超英 香港性徵特區政府新聞處政府印務局 1994年
Birds of Hong Kong and South China (6th edition, translated into Chinese and newly revised) by Clive Viney, Karen Phillipps, Lin Chaoying, Hong Kong Govt. Press 1994

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

Chinese Birds (A Tentative List of Chinese Birds) 中國鳥類（中國鳥類目錄試編） N. Gist Gee, Lacy I. Moffett, G. D. Wilder (祁天錫, 慕維德, 萬卓志), Peiping, 1927 (reprinted 1948)