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Message: <blockquote data-quote="janvanderbrugge" data-source="post: 3462645" data-attributes="member: 137246">Is hauthi a different bird from Spermestes haldi Russ, 1870?The answer has already been given, thank you Björn and Martin. James, I do not know if the names given below are of interest to you, but they are intriguing anyway, like the names of ornithologists. Besides, the honoured persons had often more to do with birds than many honoured man or woman of noble rank. In Die Gefiederte Welt Nr.1 of 5 January 1882 Dr. Karl Russ presents an unknown waxbill, Luchs' Astrild, Aegintha Luchsi, Rss. the looks of which are said to be intermediate to Aegintha cinerea [which is Estrilda troglodytes] and A.melpoda [= Estrilda m.]There are some clues in this text. Russ says: Ich benannte diesen Astrild zu Ehren eines der tüchtigsten Kenner und liebevollsten Pfleger der Prachfinken, des Herrn Dr. Luchs in Warmbrunn. = I named this waxbill to the honour of one of the most active and charming keepers of Estrildids, Mr. Dr. Luchs at Warmbrunn.The text goes on: "The first Luchs' waxbill was in possession of Mr. E.Hald in Hamburg, a very diligent and  expert lover of waxbills, who had found it at Miss Chr.Hagenbeck's and sent it dead to me in December 1879. He also possessed the second one, in September 1880, which I received in December. The third and fourth were taken by trader Fockelmann from Hamburg to the Ornis exhibition, Berlin, on 4 November 1881, but they were so firmly protected against the cold that they did not survive the transport. They must have come from West Africa, because they had been brought into the trade together with the related species mentioned.Chr.Hagenbeck is Christiane Hagenbeck of the well-known animal trade in Hamburg, her advertisements are in Die Gefiederte Welt. Maybe Carl was no longer active or alive in the 1880s?Russ mentions to this "new species" that gradually there has grown a substantial series of birds which made their entrance in science only through the aviculture and bird trade. He just "wants to remember" [sic]: Russ' Astrild (Aegintha - Pitylia - Russi Reichn.), Wiener's Astrild (Aegintha Wieneri, Rss.), Düring's Astrild (Aegintha Düringi, Rss.), Hald's Bronzemännchen (Spermestes Haldi, Rss.), Russ' Weber (Ploceus Russi, Fnsch.), Hagenbeck's Amazonenpapagei (Psittacus Hagenbecki Rss.).I think Mr. Russ offers some new items to crack here, although most names must be synonyms. I will try to gather the loose ends of this all, e.g. the initials of some persons. I had hoped to find the initials of Lt. Hauth, because it was written that he would send birds to the Ornis exhibition of 1887, but Russ writes only that Hauth had sold his young Madagascar Mannikins there with success. I did not find a catalogue or a list, at least not in De Gefiederte Welt. It takes much time to read all the articles in the magazine, most things are rather lengthy and a quick search is hardly possible. But it produces some information, that's evident.About the name Bronzemännchen; in Dutch it is used as well, as "bronzemannetje" (little bronze man), for several Lonchura species from SE Asia. The word has yielded the "English" mannikin/manakin. But I couldn't tell yet which Lonchura is connected to the name haldi.Cheers,Jan van der Brugge, Netherlands</blockquote>

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