Some Kelantan bird names
E.J.H. Berwick, serving as Agricultural Officer for Kelantan and Trengganu from August 1950 to May 1951, compiled a field survey of Malay bird names in common use in Kelantan, published in 1953. The article documents significant regional divergence from West Coast and Pahang nomenclature, providing Latin identifications alongside local terms for approximately 100 species across 25 taxonomic groups.
Summary
Berwick’s notes emerged from daily observation during his administrative posting at Kota Bharu on the Kelantan River. Rather than presenting a systematic comparative study, the article functions as a corrective supplement to existing records, flagging where Kelantan usage departs from the names already documented for the peninsula’s west coast. The author explicitly notes that his list is “far from complete,” positioning it as a contribution to cumulative knowledge rather than a definitive taxonomy.
The most substantive observations concern families where regional variation is pronounced. Among herons, the generic term bangau is rarely heard in Kelantan, replaced by kutu or kutor for egrets and bangar (a local modification) for the Pond Heron. Among hawks, the general term lang is locally pronounced and written lam in Jawi, and specific species carry distinctive qualifiers such as lam agong for the White-bellied Sea-Eagle and lam hindit for the Changeable Hawk-Eagle. The article also records folk etymologies, such as the tern name burong chamar being recognised by fishermen as a corruption of burong Che Amal, a figure in local folklore.
A recurring pattern is the reduction or replacement of terms standard elsewhere: pikau is never heard for partridges (replaced by puyoh), merbok is absent for the Barred Ground Dove (replaced by titir), and ketampi is unknown for the Fish Owl (replaced by burong hantu). These substitutions suggest a distinct Kelantan ornithological vocabulary shaped by local ecology and linguistic drift.
Key Findings
- The Cattle Egret and White Egrets are called kutu or kutor in Kelantan, not bangau; the Pond Heron is bangar or more commonly tapong baju (p. 140).
- The general hawk term lang is locally pronounced lam (written so in Jawi); the Brahminy Kite is lam těmikar and the Changeable Hawk-Eagle lam hindit (p. 140).
- The White-breasted Water Hen is called reruak or more often guak, and the Water Cock ayaman — terms not recorded for the west coast (p. 141).
- The Nicobar Pigeon in the Perhentian and Redang Islands is known as burong junai, never as merpati mas; Robinson and Chasen record burong jinjunai as the Labuan equivalent (p. 141).
- The Burmese Roller is called tiong karat (Jawi: tiom karat), a name also applied to the Broadbilled Roller, which is more specifically tiong batu (p. 143).
- The general sparrow/munia term chak generates a rich set of specific names tied to habitat and behaviour: chak rumah (Tree Sparrow), chak abong (White-banded Munia), chak pinang (Spotted Munia), chak tuli (Sharp-tailed Munia), chak pua (Weaver Finch) (p. 144).
Conclusion
Berwick’s contribution is fundamentally one of regional documentation: by recording Kelantan-specific terms and their Jawi orthography, he provides a baseline for understanding how Malay ornithological nomenclature varies across the peninsula, and how local ecology and folk tradition shape bird naming in ways that standard west coast references do not capture.
Context
- Berwick was a colonial agricultural administrator; his observations were incidental to his official duties rather than the product of dedicated ornithological fieldwork, which accounts for the article’s explicitly partial and supplementary character.
- The article draws on direct field observation and consultation with local Malay speakers (including a prepared list from a Malay informant), and its value lies in preserving Jawi spellings and pronunciation notes that would otherwise be lost.