Red-winged

The Red-winged form of the Red-Faced Pytilia

- Where did I come from?

This species is actually the Yellow-Winged Pytilia, Pytilia hypogramica, however the prominence of the Red-winged "form" in Australian aviaries warrants considerable discussion. The close genetic relationship with the Aurora, Pytilia phoenicoptera is very obvious to the experienced observer and is at the core of the unwritten debate on the origin of the Red-winged version in our captive stocks. Indeed the Aurora is intrinsically linked to the captive status of the Red-faced Pytilia in several ways. As the popularity of the Red-faced Pytilia has grown in Australian aviculture, the Aurora's popularity has reciprocated with an equivalent decline. This is unfortunate as the Aurora is an excellent aviary subject. The Red-faced Pytilia has all the positive attributes of the Aurora with an added splash of colour. Both the red and yellow-winged forms of this species are attractive and peaceful aviary inhabitants. The red-winged one is quite uncommon and the yellow-winged is now rare in Australian aviaries, so they are both best suited to experienced finch breeders. If you can breed Auroras well then you should have no trouble with these guys as their wants and needs are virtually identical. It follows, therefore, that Auroras are the ideal stepping stone to Red-faced Pytilias in the ladder of avicultural competence.

There is no doubt that a red-winged form exists in the wild, however the fact that the natural range of the Yellow-winged Pytilia and the Aurora intersect may have a lot to do with this.

The Red-winged form has been loosely classified as Pytilia lopezi by some taxonomists giving it the status of a separate species. However, most who have studied its taxonomic relationship to the Yellow-winged Pytilia, regard the red-winged form as merely a colour morph or localised genetic variant of the Yellow-winged Pytilia without sufficient difference to be even given sub-species status. Goodwin, 1982 quotes an account of a pair of Red-winged birds of wild origin producing six young, all redwings, suggesting that the fact that they produce young red-wings true to type of the parents may warrant separate classification.

The natural range of the Yellow-winged Pytilia is almost totally enveloped to the North by the Aurora's natural range. In the north-east of the Yellow-wing's range their areas overlap. This area of overlap is sufficiently large to assume that two species with such similarities in habitat preference and genetic relationship are highly likely to have come into such regular contact that at least some regular interbreeding is likely to take place. Given their heritabilities this would result in all red-winged young. My well-founded belief is that red wing colour is dominant to yellow (autosomal) and that red face colour is dominant to grey (mode of inheritance unknown). It therefore follows that I firmly believe that the existence of the red-winged form of the Red-faced Pytilia is attributed to Aurora hybrids in both the wild stocks of Africa and the captive stocks of Australia. When the species first "popped up" in Australia about 15 years ago, both Yellow-winged Pytilias and "Red-faced Auroras" were offered for sale simultaneously at their first release. Some of the purchasers of these first release birds produced an occasional grey-headed male offspring among the red-faced progeny. I have heard of other isolated instances of breeders crossing them with Auroras over the years. This has continued to genetically tarnish Red-faced Pytilia stocks to the point where most breeders produce the odd grey-headed (Aurora) male from what appears to be pure Red-faced Pytilia parents. This raises the question - what about the hens? How many Red-winged Red-faced Pytilia hens used for breeding are genetically grey-headed (Aurora) hens? When the species first became available to Australian aviculture, the general body colour of hens were much more slate-grey than Aurora hens, which have a browner tint to grey areas. My first impression was that their frontal colour was about halfway between the colour of the cock and hen Aurora. Over the past 15 years or so, the body colour of most Red-winged Red-faced hens has deteriorated to such an extent that they are now virtually indistinguishable from an Aurora hen. We can easily detect grey-headed males visually but not so the hens. Presumably they are appearing at, at least, the same frequency as the males without being detected and culled. I believe that the red-faced trait is genetically dominant to grey-faced (Aurora) and that there are numerous split grey-faced cocks and hens and an unknown amount of pure grey-headed (Aurora) hens used for breeding without their owners knowing who's who.

I suggest a two-pronged approach to culling possible Aurora hens and split-grey cocks from Red-faced Pytilia stock. Firstly, to cull any pairs which produce grey-headed (Aurora) male offspring. Secondly, to select hens which exhibit darker slate-grey frontal body colour, hopefully reverting back in time to a situation where Aurora hens and Red-faced Pytilia hens can be visually discernable from each other.

Various test matings by some breeders over the past few seasons have confirmed that the red-winged trait is dominant to yellow-winged with autosomal inheritance (not sex-linked). Some breeders of Red-winged Red-faced Pytilias breed the occasional yellow-winged bird(s) from 2 Red-winged parents. The yellow-winged birds so produced are occuring in both sexes, indicating autosomal inheritance. Matings of yellow-winged to red-winged have produced all red-winged young. Presumably these are all split to yellow-winged. When these split yellow-wings are mated back to pure yellow-wings, they produce both yellow and red-winged (split) offspring in roughly equal proportions. These outcomes are also typical expectations from autosomal inheritance.

As well as indicating the genetic relationship between red and yellow wing colour, these matings have also been immensely beneficial in outcrossing the previously inbred yellow-winged stock to hopefully reinvigorate the diminished stock of yellow-winged birds. With a handful of yellow-wings produced using splits and a reasonable smattering of splits themselves, these are providing valuable unrelated stock to now hopefully boost the remaining genetically close yellow-winged stock. I firmly believe that the use of such outcrossed birds using red-wings is the only way that the yellow-winged Pytilia's numbers can be rebuilt to a secure breeding population in Australia.

I certainly don't wish to cast the red-winged bird in a negative light. I actually think it is a beautiful and absorbing aviary bird in its own right as well as being the last hope for a future with the Yellow-winged Pytilia in captivity. My intention is merely to put my thoughts in writing so that other Pytilia enthusiasts can consider the issues I have raised in the light of their own experiences and thoughts. Whatever its origins, I intend to continue to keep and breed the red-winged form and continue to attempt to rebuild numbers of the Yellow-winged one. I appeal to other finch breeders to do likewise.

GRAHAM AND LEONIE BULL l COFFS HARBOUR, AUSTRALIA