Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the library... (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Today's HBW Alive Key gives:

kobayashi / kobayashii
● Keisuke Kobayashi, Jr. (1908-2000) Japanese ornithologist, oologist (syn. Luscinia akahige tanensis).
● Keisuke Kobayashi, Sr. (1879-1933) Japanese ornithologist, oologist, collector (subsp. Myzomela rubratra, syn. Otocompsa sinensis orii).

But ... how do we know, for sure, that "Luscinia akahige kobayashii" commemorates Mr. Kobayashi, Jr. ...? Why not Sr.? Who wrote the Paper in Tori 1930?

Simply curious.

 

[mb1848]

Who wrote the Paper in Tori 1930?

Kenzo Kobayashi. The Japanese Journal of Zoology says he wrote Notes on the Birds and their eggs in the Loo Choo Islands, Tori 6 No. 30 p. 341-382, 1930, A list of birds and their eggs collected by Mr. Yukio Nakamura. If you look in Types in Japanese Birds by Dickinson et al Kenzo Kobayashi collected with Mr. Nakamura on Ishigaki Island Ilycnonotas sinensis kobayashi in 1929.
http://ci.nii.ac.jp/els/11000466575...rder_no=&ppv_type=&lang_sw=&no=1493156712&cp= .
https://books.google.com/books?id=c...ved=0ahUKEwjAsrDYx8DTAhUIyWMKHTg0CM0Q6AEIIjAA .
I do not know who Kenzo is.

 

[mb1848]

Here is the 1930 Kobayashi article (Tori).
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjo1915/6/30/6_30_341/_pdf .
Here is "An apparently new Form of Pycnonotus from the South Riu Kin Islands"
Nagamichi Kuroda,.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjo1915/6/29/6_29_269/_article . This has a bird named for Kobayashi. In Japanese it says it is named for Kobayashi Kenzō-shi which I think is Kenzo Kobayashi.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

"Luscinia akahige kobayashii"

Well found Mark! In my mind he´s a highly likely candidate. Thereby the next natural question must be: Was Kenzo Kobayashi (Kobayashi Kenzō-shi) from Kôbe (Kobe)?

That the two ornithologists Keisuke Kobayashi ("Sr." & "Jr.") lived there is already known. They, Father and Son, second and third in line a of well-known ornithologists (well-known in Japan that is) moved to Kobe in the 1920's, after an earhquake.

One thing that makes it even harder, regardless (of course) the difficulties in reading Japanese writing, is that Kobayashi seems to be a pretty common name in Japan.

I´m sure glad this guy isn´t on my list!
--

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Today's updated HBW Alive Key:

kobayashi / kobayashii
● Keisuke Kobayashi, Jr. (1908-2000) Japanese ornithologist, oologist (syn. Luscinia akahige tanensis).
● Keisuke Kobayashi, Sr. (1879-1933) Japanese ornithologist, oologist, collector (subsp. Myzomela rubratra).
● Kenzō Kobayashi (fl. 1929) Japanese collector, oologist (Mark Brown in litt.) (syn. Pycnonotus sinensis orii.

Note that the subspecies Myzomela rubratra kobayashi MOMIYAMA 1922 (here) also refer back to Mr. Kuroda (connected to "Kenzō Kobayashi") this time his Papers of 1915 and 1916. Dedicated to whom, I haven´t got a clue! I wonder if there, in the end, will be any birds at all left for either one of those two "Keisuke Kobayashi" ... ?!?

Well, I´m out ... those guys and the different Japanese OD's and ditto other texts are far, far beyond my grasp! I just happened to find Momyiama's OD of 1940.

Anyone digging deeper, trying to figure the out the various Kobayashis ... and "their" birds? Good luck!

Björn

 

[James Jobling]

I am following Wynne 1969, p. 111, in referring Luscinia (there listed as Erithacus) and Myzomela to the Keisuke Kobayashis. I wonder if Kenzo is a familiar form for Keisuke (like Harry for Henry or Jack for John)?

 

[l_raty]

I am following Wynne 1969, p. 111, in referring Luscinia (there listed as Erithacus) and Myzomela to the Keisuke Kobayashis. I wonder if Kenzo is a familiar form for Keisuke (like Harry for Henry or Jack for John)?

I was wondering the same thing.
I looked for 氏's (shi = Mr.) in that Pycnonotus article as well, I also found this in the left column of the first page:

小林桂助氏令息賢三氏と中村幸雄氏

...a possible translation of which seems to be: "Kobayashi Keisuke-shi, his son Kenzo-shi, Nakamura Yukio-shi"...?

(Just to keep a trace of it: the dedicace is in the penultimate (= second from left) column of text of the second page; it reads:

此新亞種名は標本採集者の一人九ゐ小林賢三氏の名め氏の姓を附す。

...which I won't attempt to translate word for word, but says indeed explicitly that the new variety's name is the surname of the specimen collector Kobayashi Kenzo-shi.)

 

[l_raty]

In Memoriam 小林桂助 (Kobayashi Keisuke), 1908-2000, in Jp.J.Ornithol [here] (in Japanese).
First sentence of second paragraph:

小林さんは1908(明治41)年6月6日の生まれで、誕生時の名前は小林賢三、1933(昭和8)年父親の二代目小林桂助氏の死去に伴い25歳で家督を相続し、三代目小林桂助を襲名した。

("小林賢三" = Kobayashi Kenzō)
I won't say I understand everything here either, but the gist is that he was originally named Kenzō, then adopted his father's name after the latter's death in 1933.

Kenzō is Keisuke Jr.

 

[mb1848]

Great work Laurent! Sorry all for the confusion. In our family Jr.s often go by a nickname or their middle name so people know which Bill or John they are talking about.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Recap ...

Mark, no need for you to apologize! I was the one who stirred things up. Your contribution (supported by Laurent) only resulted in a better conclusion. Well done! :t:

Today's up-updated HBW Alive Key:

kobayashi / kobayashii
● Kenzō (later Keisuke) Kobayashi, Jr. (1908-2000) Japanese ornithologist, oologist (Mark Brown and Laurent Raty in litt.) (syn. Luscinia akahige tanensis, syn. Pycnonotus sinensis orii).
● Keisuke Kobayashi, Sr. (1879-1933) Japanese ornithologist, oologist, collector (subsp. Myzomela rubratra).

So what´s left of those still "missing OD's"...

●Bulletin of the Biogeographical Society of Japan. Tokyo.
1944 Goura scheepmakeri wadai Yamashina, 14 (1), p. 1

●Buturlin, S. A. 1929. Sistematicheskiye zametki o ptitsakh Severnogo Kavkaza.
1929 Turdus philomelus nataliae Buturlin, p. 15

●Dōbutsugaku Zasshi. Tokyo.
1923 Cisticola cisticola djadja Momiyama, 35, p. 408
1923 Emberiza cioides tametomo Momiyama, 35, p. 412

●Ezhegodnik Muzeya Poltavskogo Gubernskogo Zemstva 1914-1915. Poltava.
1917 Cynchramus schoeniclus pereversievi Gavrilenko, 3-4, pp. 82+

●The India Review of Works on Science, and Journal of Foreign Science and the Arts, …
1838 Bahila Hodgson, 2, no. 2 (1837), p. 87

●Transactions of the Natural History Society of Formosa. Taihoku [= Taipei].
1927 Zosterops palpebrosa kikutii Momiyama, 17, p. 304

●Uvarova, E. M. 1950. Ornitofauna gornogo khrebta Bassek, ee ekologicheskiye i zoologicheskiye svyazi.
1950 Prunella modularis belousovi Uvarova, p.?

And, as I understand it, also:

●Quarterly journal of the Calcutta Medical and Physical Society.
1937 Palœornis cuculio McClelland, 1 (3), p. 322
1937 Phasianus ryanius McClelland, 1 (3), p. 322

(●Revista Forestal Baracoa. La Habana.)
1977 Xiphidiopicus percussus marthae Regalado-Ruíz, 3, p. 36?
1981 Melanerpes superciliosus rosamariae Regalado-Ruiz, vol.7?, p.? [... if ever published! ]

Keep looking!
--

 

[l_raty]

Here (attached) is the full entry regarding Garrulus brandtii okai MOMIYAMA 1927 ...

I gave this one another try but, unfortunately, the quality of the scans makes it very hard to read the text, at least for someone who doesn't already know kanji. What I can make out:

• First page
  • Assuming a text structure homologous to that of the Pycnonotus paper, the 1st § should be a description/diagnosis (the header is 特徵, 'features', in the Pycnonotus work; it seems different here but I can't read the kanji).
  • The 2nd § (header: 基型標本) is about the type specimen. I see one name cited in this text: 高橋永造氏, Takahashi Eizo-shi, who presumably collected the type. (Cf. the Key: "Takahashii - Eizo Takahashi (1872-1956) Japanese collector (syn. Corvus cornix orientalis, subsp. Dendrocopos leucotos, syn. Horornis cantans, syn. Parus minor, syn. Periparus ater insularis).")
  • The 3rd § (header: 測定) and the table that follows are about measurements.
  • The 4th § (header: 分布) is about distribution.
• Second page
  • The 1st § is about the taxonomy of Garrulus jays, but I can't read the header.
  • Then follows a list of the subspecies that Momiyama recognised.
  • Then comes the last §, which seems to be where an explanation of the name must be looked for.

'Oka' means 'hill' in Japanese; the kanji for this word is 岡.

The last § starts with 本新亞種, "This new subspecies"; a bit farther in the first line, the collector's name 高橋永造氏, Takahashi Eizo-shi, is repeated; just after that is something that could easily be 岡氏, Oka-shi or Mr Oka. In the middle of the second line you can see a sentence starting (after a period 。) with 因, 'origin' or 'cause', then 本亞種名, "this subspecies name" and, just a bit farther, probably 岡氏, Oka-shi, again. I suspect the full name of Mr. Oka appears at the start of the last line, but I can't make out the third kanji there (岡元?氏 ?).

Anyway, I feel rather confident that okai is an eponym, but I don't know who Mr Oka may have been. (Not the collector, apparently.)

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Here is the type of "Garrulus brandtii okai" MOMIYAMA 1927 ... with original labels and all!

If of any help!?

 

[l_raty]

Thanks Björn. :t:
Eizo Takahashi's name is on the label (in romaji, thus easily readable), confirming he was the collector.
But I see nothing that helps to solve the origin of the name.

 

[mb1848]

1927 Zosterops palpebrosa kikutii Momiyama

I posited prior that this was named for "Yonetaro Kikuchi (1869-1921) Japanese collector on Taiwan" But Björn rightly wanted to see the OD. But I did find a reference to the bird in A Hand-list of the Japanese Birds 1942 which they gave the common name of Kikuchi's White-Eye.
https://books.google.com/books?id=H0VBAAAAYAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=kikutii .
Here is a thesis about bird collecting in Taiwan:
https://lra.le.ac.uk/handle/2381/35300?mode=full .

 

[mb1848]

Could Momiyama have made a mistake and instead of naming it for Mr. Oka he meant to name it for 岡田 Okada.
http://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/okadai . ???

 

[mb1848]

1929 Turdus philomelus nataliae Buturlin, p. 15 .
Vaurie in Birds of the Palearctic Fauna says that Buturlin misspelled philomelus.
Turdus philomeltis [sic] nataliae Buturlin, 1929, Syst. notes birds northern Caucasus, p. 15, Krasnoyarsk, central Siberia. Paler throughout than nominate philomelos, greyer above, whiter below ; averages larger,

 

[mb1848]

There is Asajiro Oka, Ph.D. who taught at the scientific college at Imperial University Tokyo. Wikipedia says he was the scientist who spread Darwinism in Japan . He is considered to be the greatest Japanese biologist of the twentieth century. He was on the Committee of the Ornithological Society of Japan.
http://ornithologyexchange.org/journals/index.html/_/ornithological-journals/tori-r282 .

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Turdus philomelus nataliae BUTURLIN 1929

Type (?) here, with labels dated 1928.

Apparently this bird is now in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, in the Netherlands.

Maybe Justin knows more?

 

[mb1848]

Maybe Justin knows more?

He does. He wrote about this collector, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275649627_Een_bijzondere_collectie_vogeleieren_uit_Limburg .
A tag on the non-type bird mentions a Falco v. xxvi 1930 citation . No clue why but I searched for P. Hens and nataliae and got hits.
https://books.google.com/books?id=e...LC72785818&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=P.+Hens .

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Mark, I think the scribbled note, in pencil, on that label, to "Falco", simply refers to this short text.

Nothing new, nothing added.

We´ll see when, and if, the OD turns up!