Genus AMPELIS, Linn.
Ampelis, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. I, 1766, 297. (Type, Lanius garrulus, L. Named Linnæus in 1735.)
Gen. Char. Tail even. Tertials and secondaries with horny appendages like red sealing-wax. A well-developed soft crest.
A more elaborate diagnosis of this genus could be readily given (see Rev. Am. Birds, 404), but the above characters, as entirely peculiar, will serve to establish it.
Common Characters. A lengthened crest of soft blended feathers. Colors, soft silky brownish becoming more vinaceous anteriorly, and ashy posteriorly above. A black stripe on side of head, from nasal feathers across lores through the eye and behind it beneath crest, and a patch of the same on chin, with a white streak between them, on side of lower jaw.
A. Wing variegated. Lower tail-coverts rufous. Crest much developed. Forehead and side of head bright purplish-rufous. Black patch covering whole throat, and sharply defined. No white line between black of lore, etc., and brown of forehead. Inner webs of primaries tipped narrowly with white.
a. Terminal band of tail red.
A. phœnicopterum.[79] Greater coverts tipped with red, producing a band across the wing. No yellow on tips of primaries. Hab. Japan and Eastern Siberia.
b. Terminal band of tail yellow.