Lesser cuckoo

The lesser cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.

Lesser cuckoo
Song recorded in Japan
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Cuculiformes
Family:	Cuculidae
Genus:	Cuculus
Species:	C. poliocephalus
Binomial name
Cuculus poliocephalus Latham, 1790

It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kenya, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In culture

Lesser cuckoo on a 1971 Japanese stamp

In Japan, the bird is called hototogisu (ホトトギス/杜鵑) and frequently praised in senryu.

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]}