Black-faced Waxbill

SCI Name:  Estrilda erythronotos
Protonym:  Fringilla erythronotos Nouv.Dict.Hist.Nat. 12 p.182
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Estrildidae / Estrilda
Taxonomy Code:  blcwax1
Type Locality:  India; Kurrichane, western Transvaal, designated by W. L. Sclater, 1930, Syst. Av. Aethiop., p. 802.
Author:  Vieillot
Publish Year:  1817
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ESTRILDA
(Estrildidae; Ϯ Common Waxbill E. astrild) Specific name Loxia astrild Linnaeus, 1758. It has been suggested that the name derives from a German or Dutch avicultural term for a waxbill. However, an incandescent Reichenbach 1849, wrote that the name Estrelda, from astrild, was neither Latin nor English, nor anything else, and castigated the linguistically proficient authors who foisted it on the scientific community (“Der Name Estrelda, aus Astrild gemacht, ist weder lateinisch noch englisch, noch sonst etwas; man könnte ihn kaum deutsch-englisch nennen und muss erstauen, wie ein paar sprachkundige Männer ihn in die wissenschaft aufzunehmen vorsuchten”); "ESTRILDA.   Rostrum breve, conicum, immarginatum.  Alæ breves, rotundatæ; remige 1^ma spuria, minuta, 3^tia, 4^ta, et 5^ta æqualibus, longissimis.  Cauda subelongata, gradata.  ... Type. Loxia astrild. Linn.  This, and the preceding genus [Amadina], appear strictly confined to the warm regions of the old world; and will detach a vast number of species from the Loxiæ and Fringillæ of Linnæus. I have endeavoured in vain to reconcile the different groups of these birds proposed by Brisson, Cuvier, and Vieillot, with any thing like a geographic or a natural arrangement; and this must be my apology for not adopting either their names or characters; the first would lead to much confusion, while the latter are artificial. The minute spurious quill, (which I have termed, for the sake of uniformity, the first), seems to be an unerring indication of an African or Asiatic origin; and I find the same character in all those I have seen from New Holland." (Swainson 1827); "Estrilda Swainson, Zool. Journ. iii, p. 349, 1827.  Type by original designation, Loxia astrild Linn." (W. Sclater, 1930, Syst. Av. Aethiop., II, p. 794).   
Var. Astrilda, Estrelda, Estrila.   
Synon. Brunhilda, Glaucestrilda, Habropyga, Haplopyga, Krimhilda, Melpoda, Senegalus.

erythronota / erythronothon / erythronotos / erythronotum / erythronotus
Gr. ερυθρος eruthros  red; -νωτος -nōtos  -backed  < νωτον nōton  back.
● ex “Grimpereau à dos rouge de la Chine” of Sonnerat 1782 (syn. Dicaeum cruentatum).
● ex “Bengal Woodpecker, var. A” of Latham 1782 (subsp. Dinopium benghalense).
● ex “Astrild à moustaches noires” of Vieillot 1805 (Estrilda).
● ex “Barbion à Dos Rouge” of Levaillant 1806 (syn. Pogoniulus atroflavus).

SUBSPECIES

Black-faced Waxbill (delamerei)
SCI Name: Estrilda erythronotos delamerei
delamerei
Hugh Cholmondeley 3rd Baron Delamere (1870-1931) pioneer settler in East Africa Protectorate (= Kenya) 1903-1931 (subsp. Estrilda erythronotos, subsp. Euplectes progne, subsp. Spizocorys fremantlii).

Black-faced Waxbill (erythronotos)
SCI Name: Estrilda erythronotos erythronotos
erythronota / erythronothon / erythronotos / erythronotum / erythronotus
Gr. ερυθρος eruthros  red; -νωτος -nōtos  -backed  < νωτον nōton  back.
● ex “Grimpereau à dos rouge de la Chine” of Sonnerat 1782 (syn. Dicaeum cruentatum).
● ex “Bengal Woodpecker, var. A” of Latham 1782 (subsp. Dinopium benghalense).
● ex “Astrild à moustaches noires” of Vieillot 1805 (Estrilda).
● ex “Barbion à Dos Rouge” of Levaillant 1806 (syn. Pogoniulus atroflavus).