330 OBERHOLSER, Races of Bombycilla garrula. acs 
A SYNOPSIS OF THE RACES OF BOMBYCILLA 
GARRULA (LINNAUS). 
BY HARRY C. OBERHOLSER. 
Wuen Mr. Ridgway last treated the Bohemian Waxwing he 
found no subspecific differences in any part of its range.! A recent 
examination and comparison of specimens of this species from 
Europe, Asia, and North America, including much material addi- 
tional to that examined by Mr. Ridgway shows that the North 
American bird is decidedly different in coloration from that of 
Europe. The bird from Asia, though to a certain extent inter- 
mediate, is yet racially distinguishable from those of both Europe 
and North America. Three subspecies are thus recognizable, as 
set forth below. 
The generic name Bombycilla Vieillot,? which has currently been 
used for this group, has been rejected * in favor of Ampelis Linnzeus, 
on the ground that the type of Ampelis Linnzus is by tautonomy 
Lanius garrulus Linneus. A recent examination of the original 
description of Ampelis Linnzeus* shows, however, that while the 
word Ampelis was used in the synonymy, it was not in the sense of 
the Ampelis, but merely as part of a descriptive polynomial. Thus, 
according to the ruling of the International Commission on Nomen- 
clature, this can not be construed as constituting tautonomy in a 
pre-Linnean publication such as Linnzeus’ Fauna Suecica. Conse- 
quently the type of Ampelis must be subject to subsequent designa- 
tion, which apparently was first made by Gray in 1840, by whom 
Ampelis cotinga Linneus was selected.2 The generic name for 
the waxwings, therefore, must revert to Bombycilla Vieillot. 
1 Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 50, part 3, 1904, pp. 105-109. 
2 Ois. Amér. Sept., I, 1807 (1808), p. 88, pl. 57 (type, by monotypy, Bombycilla cedrorum 
Vieillot). 
3 Committee Brit. Ornithologists’ Union, List Brit. Birds, 1915, p. 362. 
4Syst. Nat., ed. 12, I, 1766, p. 297. 
5 List Genera Birds, 1840, p. 34. 
a. 
