464 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



b*. Bill broad, the width of upper mandible at posterior extremity of nostrils 

 decidedly greater than length from nostril to tip ; crest covering whole 

 top of head, composed qf broad, loose-webbed, blended feathers ; adult 

 males plumbeous, with black quills and tail, bright yellow under tail- 

 coverts, and large white spaces on inner webs of tail-feathers; adult 

 females like males, but plumbeous replaced by brownish or olive. 



Ptiliogonys. 1 



GENUS AMPELIS LINN^US. (Page 463, pi. CXIIL, fig. 4.) 



Species. 



COMMON CHARACTERS. Crown with a lengthened, pointed crest, of soft, blended 

 feathers ; plumage very soft, the feathers of head, neck, and body perfectly blended, 

 the prevailing color a soft fawn-color of vinaceous grayish brown, changing to ashy 

 on rump and upper tail-coverts ; prevailing color of wings and tail slaty, the latter 

 sharply tipped with yellow or red, preceded by blackish ; frontal points, lores, 

 streak through eye (running beneath crest, on occiput), and chin (sometimes 

 throat also) velvety black ; anterior portion of malar region white. Young much 

 duller than adult, the lower parts streaked with brownish or dull grayish on a 

 whitish ground. Nest in trees, bulky, constructed of small twigs, rootlets, etc., 

 mixed and lined with feathers and other soft materials. Eggs 3-5. pale dull bluish 

 or pale purplish gray, spotted and dotted with dark brown, black, and purplish. 



a 1 . Tail tipped with gamboge-yellow ; tips of secondaries sometimes with horny 



appendages resembling red sealing-wax. 



b l . Larger (wing more than 4.25) ; lower tail-coverts, forehead, and cheeks 

 deep cinnamon or cinnamon-rufous; flanks brownish gray; primary 

 coverts and outer webs of secondaries tipped with white ; outer webs of 

 quills tipped with white or yellow ; length about 7.40-8.75, wing 4.40- 

 4.60, tail 2.75-2.90. Eggs .92 X -65. Hob. Northern portions of northern 

 hemisphere; in America, south to northern border of United States in 

 winter, breeding far northward (and in northern Rocky Mountains ?). 



618. A. garrulus LINN. Bohemian Waxwing. 



b*. Smaller (wing less than 4.00) ; lower tail-coverts white ; forehead and 

 cheeks same color as crest; flanks yellowish olive; wings entirely 

 plain slate-gray (except the wax-like tips to secondaries, in some speci- 



1 Ptiliogonys SWAINS., Philos. Mag. n. s., i. 1827, 368. Type, P. cincrem SWAINS. 



The male of the single Mexican species (P. cinereun) is uniform plumbeous, becoming ashy on head, which 

 fades to nearly white anteriorly ; flanks bright golden olive, or oil-yellow, the under tail-coverts rich gam- 

 boge-yellow ; eyelids white ; ear-coverts and occiput (beneath crest) soft grayish brown. The female is grayish 

 brown where the male is plumbeous, the flanks wholly light brown, the wings and tail duller black, white spots 

 on inner webs of tail-feathers more restricted, etc. An allied Guatemalan race (P. cinereus molybdophanet, 

 new subspecies) differs in having the plumbeous decidedly deeper, the flanks olive-green instead of oil-yellow, 

 etc. The dimensions are nearly the same (length about 7.75-8.00, wing 3.70, tail 4.00-4.25). A very fine 

 Costa Rican species (P. caudatus CAB.), with long and much graduated tail but very similar plumage, is the 

 type of the subgenus Sphenotelm BAIRD (Rev. Am. B. i. May, 1866, 412). 



