SWALLOWS. 31 



man is a sufficient protection against enemies. This species is gen- 

 erally distributed over the west coast region, but it is not so common 

 as it is in the East, probably because of the relative scarcity of nest- 

 ing sites. It is not improbable, however, that the end of the present 

 half century will see the barn swallow as common throughout the 

 whole of the region as it is in the East. 



Eightj^-two stomachs of barn swallows were examined, taken from 

 April to October, inclusive, though April was represented by only 

 two stomachs and October by one. While a greater number would 

 have been desirable, the close resemblance of the food to that of 

 the eastern birds, as shown by the contents of these stomachs, gives 

 assurance that the results are reasonably reliable. 



Vegetable food. — Practically no vegetable food was found in the 

 stomachs examined. A single unknown seed was contained in a stom- 

 ach taken in September. 



Insect food. — So far as these 82 stomachs show, the western barn 

 swallow subsists entirely upon insects, and it may be added that the 

 same is true of the eastern bird. 



The largest item of food is made up of Hemiptera of various 

 families, amounting to nearly 39 percent of the whole. None of these 

 insects was present in the two stomachs taken in April, but in every 

 other month they constitute a large percentage of the stomach con- 

 tents, and in September, when 38 stomachs were taken, they amount 

 to 90 percent of the food for that month. Representatives of 8 fami- 

 lies were identified, but the principal and most important ones are 

 the leaf-bugs (Capsidse), which were found in 4-1 stomachs. 



Flies are next in importance, and amount to 32 percent of the food. 

 Most of them belong to the family of the common house fly (Mus- 

 cidse), though probably there were others too badly mangled to be 

 identified. No long-legged crane-flies (Tipulidse), usually commonly 

 eaten by birds, were found. 



Hymenoptera constitute 18 percent of the food. Most of them 

 consist of wasps and wild bees, but a few stomachs contained ants. 

 One stomach had a drone honey-bee. Several birds had eaten para- 

 sitic species of Hymenoptera ; a separate account was kept of these 

 so far as possible, but the totaf amount summed up to only about one- 

 fourth of 1 percent of the whole food. 



Beetles aggregate nearly 10 percent of the whole, and belong to 13 

 families, with no preference for any. The bird probably snatches 

 any and all beetles which it comes across. A few of the destructive 

 engraver beetles (Scoh^tidje) were found in 3 stomachs. Dragon- 

 flies and several unidentified remains constitute the remainder of the 

 food and amount to a little more than 1 percent. 



