me EST ORY 
OF 
Bee boleh S Fe BARDS 
Subfamily AMPELIN A, on WAX WINGS. 
Tue Waxwings are a very small subfamily, consisting of birds having the 
wing of a Starling, the foot of a Shrike, and a bill intermediate between 
that of a Shrike and a Swallow. They are probably most nearly allied to 
the Shrikes and the Starlmgs: from the former they may at once be 
distinguished by the minuteness of their bastard primary, their short 
tarsus, and their nearly obsolete rictal bristles. Although they agree with 
the Starlings in having their bastard primary very small and their second 
primary long, combined with a short even tail and almost obsolete rictal 
bristles, ornithologists are perhaps justified in placing them in a distinct 
subfamily, in consequence of the shortness of their tarsus, their shorter, 
wider, and notched beak, and the presence of small bristles which cover 
the nostrils. The Waxwings only moult once in the year, in autumn. The 
young in first plumage differ from their parents in many respects, and are 
streaked on the underparts ; but this plumage is moulted during their first 
autumn. 
The Ampeline were in all probability originally an arctic group of 
birds, of which only eight species are at present known to exist. One of 
these is cireumpolar, one is confined to Japan, whilst a third inhabits the 
temperate portions of the Nearctic Region. The remaining five species 
inhabit the Neotropical portion of North America; only one species is 
European. 
MOL LL. B 
