THE PROBLEM OF THE VIDUINAE IN THE 

 LIGHT OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS 



By Herbert Friedman k 

 Director, Los Angeles County Museum 



While my study of the parasitic weaverbirds (i960) was in press, 

 an important paper by Steiner (i960) appeared. Although his at- 

 tention was centered largely upon the waxbills and their allies (the 

 spermestids of his paper; estrildids of mine), he briefly discussed 

 the systematic position of the Viduinae and their relationships with 

 the waxbills and came to conclusions different from my own. Inas- 

 much as Steiner's experience and thinking concerning the waxbills 

 were both prolonged and extensive, it is necessary to consider his com- 

 ments carefully and objectively, even though I am still of the 

 opinion that to accept them poses more difficulties than it solves. 



The various recommendations made by Steiner and others prior 

 to 1959 were reviewed in my account (i960, pp. 3-9), where a 

 consideration of their not altogether harmonious contents led me to 

 conclude that it was more nearly correct and acceptable to keep the 

 waxbills and their allies in the Ploceidae than to erect a separate 

 family for them. It was recognized that there were substantial argu- 

 ments for recognizing a separate family for the estrildines, but there 

 were equally suggestive ones for keeping them as a subfamily of the 

 Ploceidae. One could not lightly overlook the conclusion that they 

 constitute a distinct family arrived at by two of their most careful 

 investigators, Steiner and Nicolai, under conditions of aviculture. 

 On the other hand, Chapin's very extensive field acquaintance with 

 many of the included genera and species and his interest in the classi- 

 fication of the whole assemblage caused him to consider them as one 

 family. In his last extensive treatment of a good portion of the 

 whole weaverbird complex, Chapin (1954, pp. 286-287) has this 

 to say: 



The three most highly specialized subfamilies are believed to be the Pas- 

 serinae, Ploceinae, and Estrildinae. The most primitive group of all is the 

 Bubalornithinae, w^hich at one time I believed should be treated as a distinct 

 family. In 1925 Peter Sushldn convinced me that the Plocepasserinae are dis- 

 tinctly intermediate between the buffalo-weavers and the sparrows, and he 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 145, NO. 3 



