WAXWINGS AND PHAINOPEPLAS 387 



Distribution. Northern hemisphere ; in America breeding 1 from the 

 limit of trees south to the central United States ; wintering 1 from the 

 southern border of the United States south to the West Indies. Central, 

 and northern South America. 



Nest. In horizontal holes or burrows, excavated in sand banks, cuts, 

 and banks of streams. Eygs : 3 to (>, white. 



Food. Insects. 



The colonies of chattering little bank swallows with dull colored 

 backs and dark chest bands seem to require little more than a sand 

 bank and a telegraph wire for complete happiness, and given these, 

 blow the wind east or blow the wind west, they gossip merrily on. 



GENUS STELGIDOPTERYX. 



617. Stelgidopteryx serripennis (And.). ROUGH-WINGED SWAL- 

 LOW. 



Bill small ; tail short and slightly emarginate ; tarsus slightly feath- 

 ered above ; lateral claws curved 

 and not reaching- 

 beyond the base of 



the middle claw ; Fig. 478 



outer ireb of outer primaries saw-toothed in male, roughened 

 in female. Adults : upper parts dull grayish brown, darker 

 on wings and tail, tertials usually margined with grayish ; 

 under parts soiled gray, belly and under tail coverts white. 

 Young : like adults, but plumage more or less washed with brown ; wings 

 witli broad cinnamon tips and margins Length: 5.00-5.75, wing 4.00- 

 4.70, tail 2.05-2.35. 



Distribution. Breeds in Sonoran and Transition zones of British Colum- 

 bia, Ontario, the United States, and Mexico ; migrates to Guatemala. 



Nest. In holes, usually in banks, but often in abutments of bridges, 

 Eggs : 3 to 0, white. 



Food. Flies and other insects. 



The dingy rough wings are less sociable than the bank swallows 

 during the nesting season, but afterwards assemble in large flocks 

 and are in less of a hurry to start for the south. 



In Nevada, during a shower, Mr. Oberholser once found a flock 

 congregated about a small cliff in a cave. 



FAMILY AMPELIDJE: WAXWINGS AND PHAINO- 

 PEPLAS. 



KEY TO GENERA. 



1. Wings pointed Ampelis, p. 387. 



1'. Wings rounded Phainopepla, p. 390. 



GENUS AMPELIS. 



General Characters. Head crested ; bill short, broad, flat, rather 

 obtuse, plainly notched near tip of each mandible ; wings long and pointed, 

 much longer than tail ; primaries apparently only nine, the first being 



