278 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



of its having bred cannot be substantiated), three or possibly four 

 times Orkneys, fairly regularly in May-June and Sept. Fair Isle, 

 and twice O. Hebrides (Flannan Isles), May and Sept. Ireland. 

 Three. Near Belfast (Down), Aug. 10, 1878 ; Wicklow Head 

 Light, Sept. 1, 1908 ; Fastnet Rock Light (Cork), Sept. 26, 1910. 



DISTRIBUTION. Abroad. From about lat. 64 north, throughout 

 Europe, south to Cantabrian Mountains and Pyrenees, Italy and (?) 

 Sicily, Greece, Asia Minor, and north Syria. Migrant, wintering in 

 tropical and south Africa. Replaced in Corsica and Sardinia, in 

 Transcaucasia, Persia and west Turkestan, by closely allied forms 

 which require further study. 



FAMILY BOMBYCILLID^E. 



Middle-sized ten-primaried Oscines with the first primary 

 minute (less than half primary-coverts). Wing long and pointed, 

 second and third primaries nearly equal and longest, longest 

 primaries exceeding secondaries by much more than one-third 

 length of wing. Tail short, square, 12 rectrices. Bill short, 

 thick, widest base, slightly hooked and notched. Rictal bristles 

 obsolete. Plumage soft, silky, head crested. Lores and narrow 

 frontal line including nostrils, covered with dense, short, velvety 

 feathers. Tarsus very short, front scutellate. Three species in 

 subarctic regions of Old and New World, migratory. Nests in 

 trees, open. 



Genus BOMBYCILLA VieilL* 



BOMBYCILLA Vieillot, Ois. Amer. Sept., i.. p 88 (1808 Monotype : 

 B. cedrorum Vieill.). 



Characters and distribution as family. Sexes differ slightly, 

 young striped underneath. 



BOMBYCILLA GARRULUS 



117. Bombycilla garrulus (L.) THE WAXWING. 



LANIUS GARRULUS Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 95 (1758 " Habitat 



in Europa." Typical locality : Sweden). 



Ampelis garrulus Linnaeus, Yarrell, i, p. 523 ; Saunders, p. 155. 



DESCRIPTION. Adult male. Winter. Fore-head, lores, stripe over 

 and behind eye black ; fore-part of crown chestnut-brown ; rest 



* In the Hand-List of British Birds, p. 53, the generic name Ampelis L. 

 has been adopted, its type by elimination being A. garrulus ; as the latest 

 Rules of Nomenclature do not allow elimination for type-fixing of generic 

 names, we shall have to adopt the name Bombycilla. E.H. 



