510 HISTORY OF THE 



They also nest in holes in the sides of upright banks, invari- 

 ably along streams or over water, but they are not so deep or 

 uniform; and often nest in holes caused by decaying roots and 

 openings from various causes, and in crevices in abutments of 

 bridges, etc. The place at the end, rounded out for the nest, 

 is loosely lined with grasses and feathers. Eggs usually four 

 or five, .73x.52; pure white; in form, ovate or pointed oval. 

 A set of five eggs, taken May 30th, 1882, at Pewaukee, Wiscon- 

 sin, are in dimensions only: .70x.50, ,70x.50, .70x50, .71x 

 50, .71x52. 



FAMILY AMPELID.32. WAXWINGS, ETC. 



Legs moderate. Nostrils elongated, linear, with the frontal feathers ex- 

 tending close to the edge and to anterior extremity, concealing them; these 

 feathers short, velvety and erect, with few bristles. Wings very long and 

 pointed; outer or first primary so much reduced as to be almost inappreciable; 

 the second nearly the longest. Wing nearly twice the length of the short, nar- 

 row, even tail. Under coverts of tail reaching almost to its tip. Secondary 

 quills of fully adult birds with flat, horny appendages at end of shaft like red 

 sealing wax (except in A.japonicd). Young birds streaked beneath. Adults 

 plain. This family as restricted contains but a single genus, Ampelis. The 

 most obvious characters consist in short, broad, and rather depressed bill, with 

 short (decidedly convex) gonys and densely feathered nasal fossa, and the wax- 

 like appendages to the tips of the secondary quills in the adult. (Ridgway.) 



SUBFAMILY AMPELINJL WAXWINGS. 



Wings -very long and much pointed, longer than the short, even tail. First 

 primary excessively rudimentary; the outermost about the longest. Gape with- 

 out bristles. Frontal feathers extending forward beyond the nostrils. Often 

 with horny appendages like red sealing wax at end of shafts of secondaries. 

 (Ridgway.) 



GENUS AMPELI8 LINN^US. 



"Tail even. Tertials and secondaries with horny appendages like red seal- 

 ing wax. A well-developed soft crest." 



Ampelis garrulus LINX. 



BOHEMIAN WAXWINQ. 

 PLATE XXX. 



Winter visitant; very rare. 



B. 232. R. 150. C. 166. G. 73, 259. U. 618. 



HABITAT. Northern portion of the northern hemisphere; in 

 North America, south in winter more or less regularly (in the 

 Kocky Mountains to southern Colorado) to latitude 40; occa- 



