In comparatively recent geological time, two basic lines developed from the Bombycilline stock, the future _B. garrula_ and _B. cedrorum_. Possibly _garrula_ originally was isolated in Europe and Asia, and later came into contact with _B. cedrorum_, following the time at which the two species were genetically well differentiated. It appears certain that _B. japonica_ was an offshoot of the Bombycilline stock at an early time, since it has characteristics that seem relatively unspecialized. It possibly was isolated in the Orient. Structural affinities of _Dulus_ and _Bombycilla_ are more pronounced than are those of _Dulus_ and _Ptilogonys_, for example. Many of the structural features of _Dulus_ parallel those of _Phainoptila_, and it seems likely that the Dulinae were separated early in the history of the family, perhaps as an isolated offshoot of the early migratory Bombycillinae. CONCLUSIONS Nomenclature, as used by a taxonomist, should of course indicate affinities as well as apply a name, and the rank of the family should be applied to a structural unit based on common anatomical characters that are more fundamental than, in my opinion, are those used by Ridgway (1904) in proposing family status for the silky flycatchers and the palm-chats. The characters in the diagnosis (page 478) of the family Bombycillidae are common features regarded as warranting a single family unit for the waxwings, silky flycatchers, and palm-chats. The differences in morphology used by previous workers to characterize each of these groups: (1) the silky flycatchers; (2) waxwings and; (3) palm-chats are regarded as more properly characters of only subfamily rank. The existing coloration of the species of the Bombycillidae appears to have been acquired relatively late, geologically speaking. The three subfamilies responded to ecological stimuli in three different ways, and the resulting color patterns are unlike in the three groups. Dulinae to this day have a color pattern that is most like the ancestral color pattern, and this is recapitulated in the juvenal plumage of the Bombycillinae before they attain their adult plumage. Consideration of the geographic distribution of the species of the family indicates that the center of origin of the family Bombycillidae was south of the present range of the waxwings (subfamily Bombycillinae). Waxwings probably are the descendants of a migratory population that diverged from the primitive population at an early time in the history of the family. Owing to their adaptations to survive in the north, waxwings no longer return south in the autumn. Palm-chats (subfamily Dulinae) are descendants of an isolated population of the family stock that developed communal living habits as one specialization. Silky Flycatchers (subfamily Ptilogonatinae) became modified to catch insects, and have specializations that roughly parallel those of the Tyrannid flycatchers.