Family AMPELIDZ. 
Genus AMPELIS. 
Bombycilla apud Brisson, Orn. ii. p. 333 (1760). 
Ampelis, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 297 (1766). 
Parus apud Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 548 (1811). 
Bombyciphora apud Meyer, Vég. Liv- u. Esthl. p. 104 (1815). 
Bombycivora apud Temminck, Man. d’Orn. p. 77 (1815). 
Beiné allied on the one hand to the Shrikes and on the other to the Flycatchers, the genus 
Ampelis fits very well between these two families. The genus most nearly allied to it appears 
to be the American Pétlogonys. Its only representatives are Ampelis garrulus, which inhabits 
the northern portions of the Palearctic and Nearctic Regions, Ampelis cedrorum, which is found 
in the Nearctic Region, and Ampelis phenicopterus, which is confined to Japan. Ampelis 
cedrorum is said to have occurred in Great Britain, but, so far as I can gather, without any 
valid reason. I know of more than one instance where a specimen of Ampelis garrulus has 
been killed and sent to a local taxidermist to preserve, and he has sent back in place of the bird 
received a mounted specimen of Ampelis cedrorum, which has consequently done duty as a 
British-killed example. Errors of this nature have doubtless caused the latter species to be 
recorded as a straggler to Great Britain; but it may always be distinguished from our Waxwing 
by having the under tail-coverts dull yellowish instead of bay. 
The Waxwings frequent conifer-woods, especially where the low pines and larch predo- 
minate; and during some seasons they migrate in large numbers and spread over the whole of 
the northern portions of Central Europe. They are unwary and tame in their general habits, 
perching on the top branches of trees and bushes, and may easily be shot down. ‘They are, as a 
rule, silent, uttering only a low, not unmusical call-note. They feed on insects, fruit, and 
berries of various kinds, and are voracious feeders. ‘Their cup-shaped nests are placed on a tree, 
and are constructed of twigs and moss, lined with fine lichen; and they deposit pale French-grey 
eggs spotted and blotched with purplish grey and brownish black, the number being, as a rule, 
five or Six. 
Ampelis garrulus, the type of the genus, has the bill strong, straight, short, broad at the 
base, compressed towards the tip, distinctly notched, gape without any bristles; crown with a 
conspicuous long tuft; nostrils basal, oval, partly concealed by short feathers; wings long, 
pointed, the first quill nearly abortive, the second and third nearly equal and longest, the short 
inner secondaries with the shafts prolonged to a narrow, oblong, sealingwax-like, horny 
appendage; tail moderately long, slightly rounded, the feathers sometimes with horny appen- 
dages like the inner secondaries; legs short, tarsus covered in front with four plates and three 
inferior scutella; toes moderate in size, claws moderate, arched, acute, laterally grooved; 
plumage soft and silky. 
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