Part 4

Diagnosis.--Wings long and pointed, reaching almost to tip of tail; first primary spurious; second primary longest; tail short and even; rictal vibrissae few and short; secondaries generally, and sometimes also rectrices, tipped with red, corneous appendages; nasal fossa partly filled with short, antrorse, close-set velvety feathers; plumage soft, silky; tail tipped with yellow band (red in B. japonica); sexes alike; humerus short with large external condyle; caudal muscles and pygostyle not well developed; bill flared widely at base; one genus, three species.

Range of subfamily.--Holarctic breeding area; wanders nomadically south in winter to Central America and West Indies, southern Europe and Asia.

Genus =Bombycilla= Brisson

Bombycilla Brisson, Orn. ii, 1760:337. Type Bombycilla garrula (Linnaeus).

Diagnosis.--As described for the subfamily.

=Bombycilla cedrorum= Vieillot

Cedar Waxwing

Bombycilla cedrorum Vieillot, Hist. Nat. Amer., 1:88, Sept. 1, 1807

Diagnosis.--Coloration of adults: Shading from Saccardo's Umber on dorsum to Bister on top of head; upper tail coverts and proximal rectrices Gull Gray; underparts shade through pale Lemon Yellow wash on belly into White on under tail coverts; forehead, lores, and eye-stripe Black; chin same, soon shading into Blackish Mouse Gray and into color of breast; side of under jaw with sharp White line; narrow line bordering forehead, and lores, White; lower eyelid White; quills of remiges Dark Mouse Gray, darkening at tips; inner quills tipped with red horny wax appendages; tail feathers like primaries, but tipped with Lemon Yellow, and occasionally showing also red horny wax appendages; bill and feet Black. Coloration of young: Dorsum as in adult, but lightly streaked with White; head concolor with dorsum; forehead White; lores Black; eye stripe Black anterior to eye and White posterior to eye; throat Light Buff; belly with alternate streaks of Dresden Brown and light Ochraceous Buff but posteriorly White; tail tipped with Lemon Yellow bar; bill black at tip, shading to Sepia at base.

Measurements.--Wing 92.9, tail 55.5, culmen 10.9, tarsus 16.8.

Range.--Breeds from central British Columbia, central Alberta and Manitoba, northern Ontario, southern Quebec and Cape Breton Island south to northwestern California, northern New Mexico, Kansas, northern Arkansas, North Carolina, and northern Georgia. Winters south to Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Honduras, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Little Cayman Island, Haiti, and Panama.

=Bombycilla garrula= (Linnaeus)

Bohemian Waxwing

Bombycilla garrula (Linnaeus), Syst. Nat., 10th Ed., 1758:55.

Diagnosis.--Coloration of adults: General color Olive-Brown, shading insensibly from clear Smoke Gray of upper tail coverts and rump to Cinnamon-Drab anteriorly, heightening on head and forehead to Hazel; narrow frontal line, lores, broader mask through eye, chin, and upper throat, Sooty Black; under tail-coverts Cinnamon-Brown; tail Smoke Gray, deepening to Blackish Mouse Gray distally, and tipped with Lemon Yellow; wings Blackish Mouse Gray; primaries tipped with sharp spaces of Lemon Yellow or White, or both; secondaries with White spaces at ends of outer web, shafts usually ending with enlarged, horny red appendages; primary coverts tipped with White; bill Blackish Slate and paler at base; feet Black. Coloration of young: Much like adult, but general color duller; some streaking on venter and back; chin, throat, and malar region dull White. Three subspecies.

=Bombycilla garrula garrula= (Linnaeus)

Bohemian Waxwing

Bombycilla garrula garrula (Linnaeus), Syst. Nat., 10th Ed., 1758:55.

Diagnosis.--Coloration: As described for the species, but darkest of the three subspecies; tending to be more Vinaceous dorsally than either pallidiceps or centralasiae.

Measurements.--Wing 113.5, tail 63.1, culmen 12.5, tarsus 20.7.

Range.--Europe; breeds north to northern Russia and Norway, south to about 65 deg. N latitude; winters south to England and Ireland, southern France, northern Italy, and Turkey.

=Bombycilla garrula centralasiae= Poljakov

Bohemian Waxwing

Bombycilla garrula centralasiae Poljakov, Mess. Orn. vi:137, 1915.

Diagnosis.--Coloration: As described for the subspecies garrula, but less Vinaceous dorsally, and more Cinnamon; venter lighter gray than garrula, and much paler than pallidiceps.

Measurements.--Wing 114.7, tail 63.0, culmen 12.2, tarsus 21.0.

Range.--Asia; breeds northern Siberia south to Vladivostok; winters to Turkestan and central eastern China and Japan.

=Bombycilla garrula pallidiceps= Reichenow