Xu Collection, Middle Volume Radical: Short-tailed bird (zhuī) Kangxi Strokes: 12 Page 1365, Entry 18 Pronounced hu (falling tone). Shuowen Jiezi (Shuowen) defines the nine types of hu, which are birds associated with agriculture and sericulture that protect the people from misconduct. Derived from the radical for short-tailed bird with the sound component hu. In spring, the hu is the common pheasant; in summer, the hu is the barn swallow; in autumn, the hu is the blue bird; in winter, the hu is the yellow bird. The thorny hu is the red bird; the traveling hu is the loud bird; the night hu is the chirping bird; the mulberry hu is the greasy-looking bird; the old hu is the quail. Jiyun (Collection of Rhymes) notes it is sometimes written in a variant form. Erya (Approaching the Standard), in the section on birds, writes it as hu. Also pronounced gu (falling tone). Guangyun (Broad Rhymes) notes it is used in the sense of to hire. Jiyun (Collection of Rhymes) notes it means to employ. Yunhui (Collection of Rhymes) notes it is also written as gu. History of the Former Han (Qianhan Shu), biography of Chao Cuo, states: to collect the wealth of the people to reward their service. The commentary notes that gu means to compensate, similar to how we use the word for hire today. Yunhui (Collection of Rhymes) notes it is also used as gu. Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), biography of Feng Tang, in the Suoyin commentary states: to make an action occur when it otherwise would not is called gu; to order someone to act while not acting oneself means gu is the same as hire. Textual Research: In the Shuowen Jiezi, the spring hu entry is corrected from "ban dun" to "fen dun" in accordance with the original text.