254 POLYGLOT LIST OF BIRDS— 



omitted. At the head of the page is the Manchu, then follows the Mongolian, next 

 comes Tibetan in the Tibetan character, which is transcribed firstly according to the 

 exact spelling, and secondly according to the pronunciation. Next comes the Turki 

 in Persian character, which is duly transcribed into Manchu letters, and finally the 

 Chinese. 



On examination I at once determined to put its utility to the test as far as 

 the Turki portion was concerned, but seeing that my furlough was limited (and also 

 that I had other work in the British Museum to occupy me), the great difficulty was 

 to determine which portion to select for study. Finally, I decided to take the 

 chapter on birds, partly because of the existence of other Turki lists of birds, partly 

 because the Mongols had a marked predilection for ornithology as witness Baber's 

 " Memoirs " and the common occurrence of birds' names in Turki nomenclature ; and 

 partly again because I felt that the compilers of the vocabulary might have obtained 

 from Turki-speaking men more accurate information on the subject of birds than on 

 any other Fauna of Central Asia. Such was my aim in copying out the birds con- 

 tained in this work. 1 Ultimately, of course, the whole Turki vocabulary ought to be 

 transcribed and edited. 



At first I intended merely to consult the three best-known European Manchu dic- 

 tionaries, — namely those of Amyot, Zakharoff, and Gabelentz, 2 — and give the transla- 

 tions of the corresponding Manchu word in each case. I soon found, however, that 

 this would be unsatisfactory owing to the imperfections of the three dictionaries re- 

 ferred to. I next turned to the Manchu definitions contained in the original Manchu- 

 Chinese " Mirror. " Here again the result was disappointing. I was therefore com- 

 pelled to turn to the Chinese equivalents. Having worked upon these Chinese 

 names I thought it a pity not to make use of the material I had thus collected. More- 

 over, I found that on the subject of birds the European Chinese dictionaries were 

 sadly defective, not only as regards compound expressions but also in the matter of 

 actual characters. I therefore thought that the inclusion of the Chinese names of 

 the birds might be of utility to future compilers of Chinese dictionaries, and pos- 

 sibly even to scientific explorers in China. As far as the identification of Chinese 

 names is concerned, I should certainly have derived more help from outside sources 

 had I selected the Chapter on Flowers; for this subject has engaged the attention 

 of several distinguished sinologists who, like Bretschneider, were at the same time 

 botanists. But our sources of information as to the Turki names of plants are too 

 limited to render this portion of the vocabulary a test of the whole. 



I must here disclaim any acquaintance with the science of Ornithology, and I 

 wish to forestall the criticism that might be levelled at me for undertaking such a 



l The " Mirror " contains a lengthy supplement which gives 300 additional birds, but I have not been able to 

 include these, and most of them are fabulous or absurd. 



» (i) Amyot, Diet. Tartar-Mantchou, Paris, 1789. (ii) Zakharoff, Polniy Mandjursko-Russkiy Slovar, St. Peters- 

 burg, 1875. [This work is almost impossible to procure in the market. The copy I used was kindly lent me by 

 Mr. Thomas from the I. O. Library.] (iii) Gabelentz, Abbandlung der Z.D.M.G. Ill, No. 2 (1864), 



