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U. 8 P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



AMPELIS CEDROEUM, Baird. 



Cedar Bird. 



.impelis garrxihis, Var. /? , Linn Syst. Nat. I, 176G, 297.— Gm. I, 1788, 838. 



^impelis cnrolinensis, Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 1847, 197. — Bonap. Consp. 1850, 336. 



Bombjjcillu carolincnsls, Erisson, Orn. II, 1760, 337.— AuD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 227 : V, 494 ; pi. 43.— Ib. Syn. 1839, 



165.— Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 165 ; pi. 245.— Wagler, Isis, 1831, 528. 

 Bombycilla cedrormn, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 88 ; pi. Ivii. — Ib. Galerie Ois. 1, 1834, 186; pi. cxviii. 

 Ampdis americana, Wilson, Am. Orn. I, lb08, 107 ; pi. vii. 

 Sp. Ch. — Head crested. General color reddish olive, passing anteriorly on the neck, head, and breast into purplish cinna- 

 mon ; posteriorly on llie upper parts into ash ; on the lower into yellow. Under tail coverts white. Chin dark sooty black, 

 fading insensibly into the ground color on the throat. Forehead, loral region, space below the eye, and a line above it on the side 

 of the head, intense black. Quills and tail dark plumbeous, passing behind into dusky; the tail tipped with yellow; the 

 primaries, except the first, margined with hoary. A short maxillary stripe, a narrow crescent on the infero-posterior quarter 

 of the eye, white. Secondaries with horny tips, like red sealing wax. Length, 7.25 ; wing, 4.05 ; tail, 2.60. 

 . — North America generally ; south to Guatemala. 



I have found it impossible to describe satisfactorily to myself the peculiar tint of color pre- 

 vailing on the anterior half of this beautiful bird. Mr. Audubon speaks of it as light grayish 

 brown, passing anteriorly into light brownish red. Immature specimens lack the sealing wax 

 tips. The young have the upper parts more ash above, the lower streaked with dusky reddish 

 ash and white, except on the abdomen and under coverts. 



I am unable to discern any differences in specimens from western portions of the United States, 

 California, Mexico, or Guatemala. 



List of specimens. 



Sub-Family PTILIOGONIDINAE. 



Rictus with bristles. Tail long. Wings graduated ; the first primary always half or one-third the second, which is consid- 

 erably less than ihe third. Nostrils entirely anterior to the frontal feathers. 



Ptiliogonys. — Head with a broad short crest. Culmen considerably curved from the base. 

 Bill broad. Tarsi slightly feathered at the upper extremity ; scutellate. Wings shorter than 

 the tail ; the first priiiiary very short ; the second and third much graduated, acuminated. Tail 

 forked, the lateral feather graduated. Feathers narrow, linear. 



CicHLOPSis. — Head with a long narrow crest. Culmen moderately curved from the base. 



