Lavender Waxbill

SCI Name:  Estrilda coerulescens
Protonym:  Fringilla caerulescens Nouv.Dict.Hist.Nat. 12 p.176
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Estrildidae / Estrilda
Taxonomy Code:  lavwax
Type Locality:  Zone Torride; Senegal, designated by W. L. Sclater, 1930, Syst. Av. Aethiop., p. 800.
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.

coerulescens
Unattested L. caerulescens, caerulescentis  bluish (neither caerulescere nor caerulescens have been found in Classical Latin, but their existence may be inferred from caeruleus  azure-blue, by the example, among others, of rufus  red, ruddy, giving rufescere  to become reddish, and rufescens, rufescentis  reddish). 
● ex “Petit Martin-pêcheur aigue-marin” of Temminck 1807 (Alcedo).
● ex “Garza Aplomada” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 347 (syn. Ardea cocoi).
● ex "Bengali gris-bleu" of Vieillot 1805 (Estrilda).
● ex "Aplomado" of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 22 (Geranospiza).
● ex "Curucáu aplomado" of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 363 (Harpiprion).
● ex “Habia de ceja blanca” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 81 (Saltator).