Lesser cuckoo
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| image = Lesser Cuckoo by Tisha Mukherjee 16.jpg
| image2 = Hototogisu_07b8051.ogg
| image2_caption = Song recorded in Japan
| genus = Cuculus
| species = poliocephalus
| authority = Latham, 1790
| synonyms =
}}
The lesser cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.
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
file:Hototogisu 3Yen stamp in 1954.JPG
In Japan, the bird is called {{nihongo3||ホトトギス/杜鵑|hototogisu}} and frequently praised in senryu.
It has been celebrated by numerous waka poets since the anthology Kokin wakashū (920). 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. It is also the central image in poem 81 by Tokudaiji Sanesada in the anthology of 100 poems, the Hyakunin Isshu .
The Japanese haiku magazine Hototogisu takes its name from the bird, and the magazine's mastermind Masaoka Shiki's adopted pen name, {{nihongo|Shiki|子規}} also refers to the lesser cuckoo; shiki corresponds to the Chinese zǐguī ({{lang|zh|子規}}), which is an alias for its standard name dùjuān (杜鵑).
In Chinese, dùjuān is a generic name and the species' common name is xiāodùjuān ({{linktext|小|杜鵑}}).
In Korean literature, the song of the lesser cuckoo represents the sound of sadness.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}
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References
{{Commons category|position=left|Cuculus poliocephalus}}
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{{Taxonbar|from=Q495144}}
Category:Birds of the Himalayas
Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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