414 BULLETIN 179, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The Diptera, represented chiefly by house flies and crane flies, made 

 up 26.63 percent of the food. The Lepidoptera, comprising only 

 1.21 percent, was made up of moths and caterpillars. One stomach 

 was entirely filled with caterpillars. The Odonata (dragonflies), 

 which are usually found about water, fall prey to bank swallows 

 that fly along or that nest in the banks of streams. These large 

 swift-flying insects comprised 2.11 percent of the food. Other mis- 

 cellaneous insects eaten comprise 10.53 percent of the food. A few 

 spiders were included in the stomach contents examined by Beal. 



Dayton Stoner (1936b) reported on the food of 21 adult and 43 

 j^oung bank swallows collected in the Oneida Lake region, New 

 York, between May 14 and July 22, 1931. His determinations con- 

 firm Beal's results in that they clearly indicate that the food of the 

 bank swallow consists primarily of insects that are captured during 

 flight. While a few of the insects eaten are beneficial to man, the 

 vast majority are injurious, placing the bank swallow high in the 

 column of species of birds beneficial to man. 



The food of the young is similar to that of adults, but that of the 

 younger nestlings contained an excess of soft-bodied forms of in- 

 sects. Such large, coarse-bodied insects as stoneflies are absent from 

 the food of the young, and there are a smaller number of beetles 

 and a greater number of flies and Homoptera in the food of the 

 young. 



Voice. — ^The bank swallow does not excel in its ability to sing; 

 indeed its simple twittering notes at their best can scarcely be called 

 a pleasing song. Forbush (1929) describes the notes as "usually 

 rather silent, except when danger threatens; call notes, more harsh 

 and 'gritty' than those of other swallows ; 'song,' a mere twitter." 



In correspondence, S. S. Dickey writes : "Their notes approach those 

 of the rough-winged swallow, but they are more subdued and gentler. 

 They sound not unlike the syllables speech-sweet; speeds-sweet, oft 

 repeated and notably audible around the nesting sites." 



The calls and notes of the adults and young at the nest are described 

 in detail by Leonard K. Beyer (1938) : 



' When entering the burrow with food the male calls in a series of peculiarly 

 sweet, fine notes much higher in pitch than the usual Banli Swallow call. 

 This seems to be the food call to the young, for upon hearing it they raise 

 tlieir heads with mouths wide open. When tlie young were foiu- days old, I 

 heard for the first time the call notes of the nestlings, weak and rather fre- 

 quent and resembling somewhat the call notes of the old birds. When the 

 young were seven days old, their voices had now begun to resemble those of 

 the adult Bank Swallows. Sometimes when they did not respond to the food 

 call of the parent the old bird gave a very soft, high-pitched call that was 

 exceedingly musical and sweet. As they become older they call more loudly 

 and gradually their notes come to resemble the characteristic reedy twitter of 

 the adults of the species. 



