198 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



FAMILY AMPELIDJE. THE WAXWINGS. 



CHAK. Legs moderate. Nostrils elongated, linear, with the frontal feathers extending 

 close to the edge and to anterior extremity, concealing them; these feathers short, 

 velvety and erect, with few bristles. "Wings very long and pointed; outer or first pri- 

 mary so much reduced as to be almost inappreciable; the second nearly the longest. 

 Wing nearly twice the length of the short, narrow, even tail. Under coverts of tail 

 reaching almost to its tip. Secondary quills of fully adult birds with flat horny app nd- 

 ages at end of shaft like red sealing-wax (except in A. japonlca). Young birds streaked 

 beneath. Adults plain. 



This family, as restricted, contains but a single genus, Ampelis. 



The most obvious characters consist in the short, broad, and rather 

 depressed bill, with short, decidedly convex gonys and densely 

 feathered nasal fossae, and the wax-like appendages to the tips of 

 the secondary quills in the adult. 



The family is usually enlarged, however, to include a so-called 

 subfamily, Ptilogonatinre, which may be distinguished as follows : 



COMMON CHARACTERS. Gape of mouth nearly straight. Metal arsal scutellifi in three 

 series. Body plain beneath, in adults. 



Ampelinae. Wings very long and much pointed, longer than the short even tail. First 

 primiry excessively rudimentary; the outermost about the longest. Gape without 

 bristles. Frontal feathers extending forward beyond the nostrils. Often with horny 

 appendages like red sealing-wax at end of shaft of secondaries. 



Ptilogonatinae. Win s rounded, shorter than the graduated tail. First primary nearly 

 half the second. Gape well bristled. Frontal feathers falling short of the nostrils. No 

 red horny appendage to wing feathers. 



SUBFAMILY Ampelinse. 

 GENUS AMPELIS LINN^US. 



Ampelis LINN. S. N. ed. 12, i, 1766, 297. Type, A. garrulus LINN. 



GEN. CHAR. Tail even, much shorter than the wing. Crown with a well-developed, 

 soft, pointed crest. Other characters are as given above for th family Ampelidce. 



Only three species of this genus are known, one of them being 

 peculiar to North America, another restricted to Japan and adjacent 

 parts of northeastern Asia, the third of circumpolar distribution. 

 They are beautiful birds, characterized by exquisitely soft plumage 



