FAM. X. WAX WINGS. 



103 



FAMILY X. WAXWINGS (AMPELID^) 



This very small family of birds includes two of our crested, 

 smooth-plumaged, rich grayish-brown species, with short, 

 square, yellow-tipped tails and long wings. The waxwings 

 practically have no song, and their notes are so quietly uttered 

 as to be by many unnoticed. The name " waxwing " is derived 

 from the fact that the secondary wing quills, and sometimes the 

 tail feathers, are tipped with horny appendages resembling red 

 sealing wax. 



Key to the Species 



* Under tail coverts cliestnut ; wing bar white. .1. Bohemian Waxwing. 



* Under tail coverts white ; no wing bar 2. Cedar Waxwing. 



1. Bohemian Waxwing (618. Ampelis rjdrrulus). — A rare, 

 distinctly crested, rich brown-backed, grayish-bellied bird, with 

 the under tail coverts 

 chestnut and the tail 

 feathers tipped with 

 yellow; having a 

 white wing bar, white 

 tips to the secondary 

 quills, and a brown- 

 ish breast. The fore- 

 head, chin, and line 

 through the eye are 

 black. (Northern 

 Waxwing.) 



Length, 8 ; wing, i\ (4|-4f) ; tail, 2| ; tarsus, | ; culmen, i%. North- 

 ern parts of the northern hemisphere ; breeding north of the United 

 States, and wintering rarely south to Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Kansas. 



2. Cedar Waxwing (619. Ampelis cedrdrum). — A common, 

 distinctly crested, rich brown-backed, yellowish-bellied wax- 

 wing, with the under tail coverts white, and all the tail feathers 

 tipped with yellow. There is no wing bar. The breast is like 

 the back and the forehead ; the chin and the line over the eye 

 are black. These smooth-plumaged birds move, excepting in the 



Bohemian Waxwing 



