WAXWINGS AND PHAINOPEPLAS 387 



Distribution. — Northern hemisphere ; in America breeding from the 

 limit of trees south to the central United States ; wintering- 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. J^yys : o 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 (Am/.). Kough-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 daw ; Fig- ^"8 



outer web of outer primaries sair-touthed 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 

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

 4.70, tail 2.().")-i\;]5. 



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: o to (>. 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 Hocks 

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



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

 congregated about a small cHJT in a cave. 



FAMILY AMPELIDiE WAXWINGS AND PHAINO- 

 PEPLAS. 



KKV ro (;knkka. 



1. Wings point.'d Ampelis. p. 387. 



I'.AVings riMindfd Phainopepla. j). iJ'.K). 



GENUS AMPELIS. 



(ieneral Characters. — Head crested : bill short, broad, flat, rather 

 obtuse, plainly not(li»'d near tip of each mandible ; wings h»ng and pointed, 

 much longer tlian tail ; primaries aj)parently only nine, the first being 



