AMPELIDiE. — CLXX. 293 



502. RIP ARIA Forster. (^CHvicoln, Forstor, snbsoqiicnt lino.) 



945. R. riparia (L.). Bank Swallow. Sand Martin. 

 Dark gray, not iridescent, pale below, a brown shade across the 

 breast. L. 4|. W. 4. T. 2. N. Am., abundant, breeding in 

 holes in sandbanks. (En.). (Lat., of the bank of a stream.) 



503. STELGIDOPTERYX Baird. {areXyis, scraper; 

 Trrepvl, wing.) 



946. S. serripennis (Audubon). Rough-winged Swallow. 

 Brownish gray, pale below. L. 5^. W. 4^. T. 2^. U. S., com- 

 mon W., breeding in banks, etc. (Lat., serra, saw, penna, feather.) 



Family CLXX. AMPELID^. (The Chatterers.) 



Primaries 10, or apparently 9, the first in our species rudimen- 

 tary and displaced ; bill stout, triangular, depressed, decidedly 

 notched and hooked, with the gape very wide. Tarsus short, with 

 the lateral plates more or less subdivided, their covering often un- 

 like that of the other Oscines ; lateral toes nearly equal. As now 

 recognized, a small family of 6 or 8 species, constituting two groups 

 which bear little resemblance to each other. 



The Ampelince includes the three species of Ampelis. They are 

 crested birds with a soft plumage of a handsome cinnamon drab 

 color ; the ends of the secondaries, and sometimes of the tail feathers 

 also, are tipped with horny appendages, looking like red sealing- 

 wax ; these often absent in 9 • The tail is tipped with yellow or 

 red. The Wax Wings are migratory and gregarious, feeding on 

 insects and soft fruits. Their voices are weak and wheezy, and 

 they can scarcely be considered as songsters. 



a. Wings pointed; tail short, truncate; primaries apparently 9; the first very 

 minute; no rictal bristles; nostrils concealed by bristles. (Ampelina.) 



Ampelis, 504. 



504. AMPELIS Linnasus. (Lat., name of some bird frequenting 

 grape-vines.) 



947. A. garrulus L. Bohemian Wax Wing. Northern 

 Wax Wing. General color a soft silky, ashy brown ; front and 

 sides of head shaded with purplish cinnamon ; a pale-edged black 

 band across forehead through eye, around crest ; throat black ; 

 crissum chestnut red ; two broad white wing bars. L. 7^. W. 4^. 

 T. 3. Northern regions, S. in winter in large flocks to the Great 

 Lakes ; an interesting and beautiful bird. (Eu.) 



948. A. cedrorum (Vieillot). Cedar Bird. Cherry Bird. 

 Similar but smaller and less cinnamon-tinged ; chin black ; strip 

 across face black, bordered above by whitish ; belly yellowish pos- 

 teriorly ; crissum white ; no wing bars ; 9 "with the wax-like ap- 



