The Firefinches

Abstract

The firefinches are a group of ten species in which the males, and sometimes also the females, usually have a considerable amount of red in their plumage, but which could be crimson, winered or even pink, and all but one species have small white dots or tiny bars at the sides of the breast. They have short, rounded or bluntly wedge-shaped tails, a tendency to a crouched posture and feed on the ground. Usually they are birds of the brush, but can often be found living in and around villages and cultivated areas. Their closest relatives are the twinspots of the genera Clytospiza, Hypargos and Euschistospiza and Pytilias, Pytilia. They are parasitised by the indigobirds, Vidua.

Red-billed Pirefinch Lagonosticta senegala Fringilla senegala Linnaeus, 1766, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1, p. 320. There are 10 subspecies.

Description

Length 1 Ocm ( 4in). The sexes differ. The L. s. senegala male has the crown, nape, mantle, back and rump earth brown washed with rose red, carmine or dull scarlet. The wings are slightly darker brown with varying amounts of red on the wing covert fringes. The rump, upper tail coverts and a varying amount of the outer webs of all but the outermost tail feathers are deep rose-red, dull scarlet or a slightly purplish red. The remainder of the tail is dull black apart from the outermost pair of feathers, which are dull brown. The face, sides of the neck and most of the underparts are rosy red to dull scarlet. The sides of the breast are spotted with small white dots, but this varies individually and occasionally an unspotted bird occurs. The red on the belly and lower flanks merges into buffish brown on the ventral area. The under tail coverts are buffish brown to drab grey, occasionally with paler fringes and sometimes tinged with red. Birds in worn plumage often appear much browner. The irides are brown to brownish red. The eye rims are a conspicuous yellow. The bill is red or pink with the culmen ridge and ridge of the lower mandible blackish. The legs and feet are brown to brownish flesh-coloured. The palate markings are similar to those of the nestling.

The female has a red stripe from the base of the lower mandible to, and often over, the eye, and sometimes a red suffusion on the feather tips at the side of the face and sides and front of the neck. The rump, upper tail coverts and tail are similar to the male's. The rest of the upperparts are a slightly buffish earth brown, apart from the wings which are a little darker. The underparts are light yellowish drab, brighter and paler buff on the centre of the belly and ventral area. The white spots on the breast are larger than those of the male and usually more profuse, often extending right across the breast and further down the flanks. The eye rims are paler than the male's and sometimes whitish or silvery grey. The bill is similar to the male's, sometimes paler. The juvenile is like the female but without red on the face, no white spots on the underparts, a little patch of dull red on the rump and a black bill (Farrar c.1920). The nestling is yellowish orange with much whitish down. Its mouth markings consist of three black spots on the pale palate, a black half-moon under the tongue, a white tubercle at the base of each upper and lower mandible and a purplish blue tubercle on each side of the gape.

On several occasions a variety in which the normal red colour has been replaced by a light, bronzy orange and with the bill being of yellow has been observed and captured. One such pair of birds bred in captivity and produced only orange young (Boosey, in Goodwin 1982).

L. s. rhodopsis is slightly paler and more yellowish on the brown and buff parts of its plumage.

L. s. brunneiceps is of a slightly brighter red than senegala and possesses fewer or no white dots on the side of the breast. The irides are frequently reddish or bright orange. The female is more greyish brown above and below and is not as well spotted on the breast.

L. s. somaliensis is not unlike brunneiceps but both sexes tend to be slightly paler. They differ from rbodopsis in not having the yellowish tone to the plumage.

L. s. ruberrima has pinkish wine-red to carmine upperparts apart from the nape and wings, which are brown. The belly and under tail coverts are of a darker, more greyish brown compared to the above races and the white dots on the breast are small and often sparse. The bill is dark grey above with a rosy wash to the sides and rose-red below. The female resembles that of brunneiceps but may be of a more buffish hue and have a reddish wash to the face, throat, lesser and median wing coverts, breast, flanks and upperparts.

L. s. rendalli resembles senegala but has very little red on the upperparts except for the face, forehead, wing coverts, rump, upper tail coverts and tail. The brown of the lower parts is more buffy and the red paler. The white dots are more extensive and often spread right across the breast. The irides are bright brownish red to orange-red. The female is like that of senegala but more profusely spotted on the breast.

L. s. confidens differs from rendalli in having paler upperparts and a paler red rump and upper tail coverts.

L. s. pallidicrissa is separated from ruberrima by its overall paler coloration, especially the underparts.

There is much individual and geographical variation amongst the races.