130 



BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



HEAD OF rURPLE MARTIN. 



eater, but, unfortunately, it seems to include many beneficial 

 as well as injurious insects on its bill of fare. Apiarists 

 charge it with feeding on bees, although some observers con- 

 tend that it takes mostly drones. Dr. Packard found one of 

 the compartments of a martin-box " literally packed with the 



dried remains of the little yel- 

 low and black squash-beetle.'' 1 

 Professor King found that the 

 stomachs of four eight-days- 

 old nestlings contained, re- 

 spectively, u («) two butterflies 

 (Colias phUodice and a skip- 

 per), six honey-bees, and many 

 bits of shells of small mol- 

 lusks ; (6) two large dragon- 

 flies, a large bee-fly, two honey-bees, and bits of shells of 

 small mollusks ; (c) one large dragon-fly, three honey-bees, and 

 fragments of the shells of small mollusks ; (r/) two medium- 

 sized dragon-flies, one honey-bee, and small pieces of shells." 

 Another young bird recently from the nest had eaten tiger- 

 beetles. These young birds certainly make a poor showing 

 for the usefulness of the species, but I do not believe that 

 their food fairly represents the food of the birds as a whole. 

 The adults would be much more likely to give their young 

 the larger insects they caught, reserving for themselves the 

 smaller forms. Ten Nebraska specimens examined by Pro- 

 fessor Aughey had eaten two hundred and sixty-five locusts 

 and one hundred and sixty-one other insects. " No bird of 

 North America,' 1 writes Mr. Ridgeway, "is more deserving of 

 protection and of encouragement to live about the habitations 

 of man than the purple martin. One pair of them will destroy 

 more insects in a season than all the English sparrows in a 

 township will kill in their life-time. Besides, their notes are 

 pleasing to the ear, and their actions, both when on the wing 

 and when perching upon their boxes, are extremely interesting." 



