404 



REVIEW OP AMERICAN BIRDS. 



[part I. 



Bomhycilla, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 88. (Type B. cedrorum.-) 



"Bombyciphora, Meyeh, 1810" (Gray). — "Bomftjciwom, Temh. 1815" 



(Gray). 



Body stout, compact; plumage silky and soft. Wings long and much 



pointed, considerably longer than the narrow, nearly even tail. An extremely 



Ampelis garrula, Lnw. 



small first primary, which sometimes is visible on the inner side of the base 

 of the second quill, sometimes rests on the outer side as in other Oscines sup- 

 posed to have only nine primaries (see pages 160, 325). The 2d quill is 

 nearly as long as the 3d ; the remaining primaries graduate very rapidly to 

 the 10th, which reaches scarcely beyond half the exposed portion of 3d. The 

 shafts of the secondaries are tipped by a flattened, obovate horny appendage 

 of a bright red color, like sealing wax ; traces of something similar to which 

 may sometimes be seen on the tail. The tail is narrow and nearly even. 



Bill short, deeply cleft, depressed, and broad at the base, the width' of 

 mouth more than two-thirds the commissure ; the culmen and gonys con- 

 siderably less than half the gape, and both much curved from base, the com- 

 missure nearly straight. The tip of upper mandible is decurved, deeply 

 notched, and with a decided tooth behind the notch ; lower bill slightly 

 notched. The nasal fossae are filled with soft, short, erect, velvety feathers, 

 advancing far forward close along the upper edge of nostrils, and concealing 

 them ; the nostrils are much elongated, and narrowly elliptical. The rictal 

 bristles appear to be wanting, although a few short ones overhang the base 

 of the bill. 



The tongue is broad, fleshy, sagittate behind, horny and bifid at the tip. 

 The legs are short, but stout ; the tarsus scarcely longer than the middle toe 

 without claw : decidedly shorter than the entire toe ; distinctly scntellate : 

 five or six divisions anteriorly ; the lateral plates on both sides also more or 

 less subdivided in Ampelis garrula, especially inferiorly. The lateral toes 

 are slightly unequal, the claws of the outer or longer barely reaching the 

 base of middle claw. The basal joint of middle toe is adherent for one-half 

 to one-third the adjacent joint of the inner toe, and for a little more than 

 that distance to barely more than one joint of the outer, the basal joint of 

 middle and inner toes being of about equal length ; the scutellje above basal 

 joints of anterior toes in three series. The hind toe is about equal to the 

 inner lateral. 



