By PETER KUNKEL 1) (LR.S.A.C., Lwiro, Bukavu, Rép
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DISPLAYS FACILITATING SOCIABILITY IN WAXBILLS OF THE GENERA ESTRILDA AND LAGONOSTICTA (FAM. ESTRILDIDAE) by PETER KUNKEL 1) (LR.S.A.C., Lwiro, Bukavu, Rép. Dém. du Congo) (Rec.9-XII-1966) There have been many studies on the behaviour of estrildid finches. Until now only a minor part (CHAPIN, GrOODWIN, 1959, 1060, 1962, IC?G3a, 1964, Ic?65; HARRISON, Ic?56, 1957, 1962a, b; HARRISON & DORMER, 1962; KUNKEL,, 1959, 1962, 1967; MORRIS, 1958; SPARKS, 1963, 1964) dealt with species of the waxbill tribe (Estrildae resp. Estrildini) as defined by ÐELA- coup (1943). In some of these species peculiar displays occur between birds, mostly of different sex but not mated or even not known to each other. Some of these displays, observed in encounters of birds not known to each other, were described by HARRISON (1962a) under the term of 'recognition postures'. Similar displays were also described by KUNKEL (1959). The present paper deals comparatively with this behaviour complex in the greater part of the species of the genus Estrilda and in two species of the genus L agonosticta. Both genera are fairly related to each other, but differ in the degree of gregariousness and sexual dimorphism. In relation to this, the displays under discussion have also developed differently. Those of Lagonosticta have remained more primitive and nearly or wholly unritualised and offer therefore good possibilities of comparison. A. THE SPECIES OBSERVED AND SYSTEMATIC REMARKS There are to many different arrangements of the waxbills that the two genera, as used here, should be defined shortly. 1) Acknowledgements. My sincere thanks are due to the Deutsche Forschungs- gemeinschaft which enabled the studies made in Europe, to the Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung which made possible my long stay in the Congo, and finally to the Institut pour la recherche scientifique en Afrique Centrale (I.R.S.A.C.) at Lwiro in the Eastern Congo which left a laboratory place and many other facilities to me in a very generous way. Further I am most grateful to Prof Dr G. P. BAERENDSand Mr DEREKGOODWIN for reading the manuscript and making very helpful criticisms and comments, and to the latter and to Dr A. ELBLfor changing my bad English into good. 238 In DEL,ACOUR's revision, Estrilda is a large genus containing 26 species many of which are only distantly related to each other. Therefore the revi- sions of WOLTERS (1957) and HARRISON (1962a) shall be followed here who give a smaller range to the genus but include in it the two species cacrulescens and perreini which were put into the genus L agoveosticta by STEINER (1960) as well as by DELACOUR, who gave Lagono.sticta the status of a subgenus of Estrilda. To this group of sibling species belongs also a third species, the Cinderella Lavender Waxbill (E. th01nensis), a rare and little known bird of very local distribution. Thus, the genus as understood here, comprises the following species, as arranged into six subgenera by WOLTERS: Species Subgenus Lavender Waxbill E. caerulescens Glaucestrilda Black-tailed Lavender Waxbill E. perreini Cinderella Lavender Waxbill E. thomensis Black-faced Waxbill E. ervthronotos Brunhilda Pink-bellied Black-faced Waxbill E. charrno.ryna Black-crowned Waxbill 7?. nonnula Krimhilda Black-headed Waxbill E. atricapilla Yellow-bellied Waxbill E. naelanotis Neisna St. Helena Waxbill E. astrild Estrilda Black-rumped Waxbill E. troglodytes Crimson-rumped Waxbill E. rhodopyga Orange-cheeked Waxbill E. melpoda Melpoda Fawn-breasted Waxbill E. paludicola Of these, the Lavender, the Black-faced, the Black-crowned, the Yellow- bellied, the St. Helena, the Black-rumped, the Crimson-rumped, the Orange- cheeked, and the Fawn-breasted Waxbill were observed in aviaries in Germany. Of the last species I was only able to obtain ?? so that I could see what HARRISON has called the 'recognition posture' in this species, but not the 'fluffed singing' present in the four other species of the subgenera Estrilda and Melpoda. In the Congo, there was opportunity to study the following species in the field as well as to arrange meetings of birds not known to each other in an aviary; the Black-crowned, the Black-headed, the Yellow-bellied, the St. Helena, and the Orange-cheeked Waxbill. The Crimson-rumped and the Fawn-breasted Waxbill were only observed during short times in the field, and no information concerning the present studies was obtained. Observations are entirely lacking for three of the species. However, these are sibling species to studied ones: the Pink-bellied Black-faced Waxbill to .