2 BRITISH BIRDS. 
Genus AMPELIS. 
In the tenth edition of the ‘Systema Nature’ of Linneus, published in 
1758, the Waxwings were included in the genus Lanius. In 1760 Brisson, 
in his ‘ Ornithologia,’ placed them in the genus Turdus; but in 1766, in 
the twelfth edition of his great work (1. p. 297), Linneeus associated them 
with half a dozen very distantly allied birds in a new genus, Ampelis. 
These strangers were subsequently removed to other genera by later writers, 
leaving the Common Waxwing as the type. 
In the birds of the genus Ampelis the shafts of the secondaries are either 
prolonged into wax-like appendages, or each feather has a red terminal spot 
to the outside web; the tail-feathers are broadly tipped either with yellow or 
red; and the throat, lores, and the feathers behind the eyes are black. They 
have also a well-developed crest. This genus contains only three species, 
one of which is confined to North America, one to Japan and the adjoin- 
ing mainland, whilst the third is circumpolar ; the latter is the only species 
found in Europe, and is an irregular winter visitor to the British Islands. 
In many of their habits the Waxwings resemble very closely the Rose- 
coloured Starling. They are very erratic in their migrations, and appear 
irregularly in certain districts often in considerable numbers. They 
chiefly frequent pine- and larch-woods; but when wandering far from 
their breeding-grounds in winter, they seem to have no preference for any 
particular haunt. They are comparatively tame birds, and resemble the 
Titmice somewhat in their actions. They possess scarcely any song. Their 
food consists of fruit, berries, and insects. They build open cup-shaped 
nests placed in the branches of trees, and made of twigs, moss, feathers, 
lichens, &c. Their eggs are from five to seven in number, varying from 
French white to sea-green in ground-colour, spotted, blotched, and speckled 
with deep brownish black and pale underlying markings of lilac. 
