WAXWINGS. 
Ampelide. 
S DR. ELLIOTT COUES observes in his ornithological works, “this 
é appears to be an arbitrary and unnatural association of a few 
genera that agree in some particulars, but are widely different in 
others. Hardly any writers are agreed upon the composition of 
the group, or the disposition to be made of it in the series. It has 
been made to cover the Myiadestine, Ptilogonydinz, Dulinz, and 
Ampeline ; but the first named I have already removed to the Turdid», the 
third may be a Vireonine, and the other two do not seem to be specially 
related. Under these circumstances, I do not attempt to define the group.” 
The Waxwines, which are also known as CHATTERERS, belong to the 
genus Ampelis, consisting of three species: the Common Waxwine, or 
CHATTERER (in German, ‘“Seidenschwanz’’—Silk-tail), A. garrulus, which 
inhabits the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere; the CEDARBIRD, 
A. cedrorum, of North America; and the JAPANESE CHATTERER, A. phoenicoptera, in 
which the tail is tipped with red instead of yellow. The first named is celebrated for 
its nomadic disposition, whence the name “Bohemian Waxwing’’; the Cedarbird has 
also much of this nomadic trait, being found here and there in winter, in the Northern 
States as well as among the tropical trees covered with epiphytal plants, especially 
orchids, bromeliads, anthuriums, and ferns of Central America. The general traits and 
habits of the Bohemian Waxwing and the Cedarbird are much the same, and very 
strongly are they pronounced. ‘They are insectivorous and frugivorous, gregarious 
and irregularly migratory, and remarkable silent birds to be called ‘Chatterers,’ having 
only a weak and wheezy voice.” Both species have ‘“‘sealing-wax” tips on the wings. 
Genus Ampelis. Two species. 
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