POOD HABITS OP THE SWALLOWS. 5 



weevil (Otiorhynchus ovatus) occurred in one stomach. Tomicus 

 cattigraphus, one of the engraver beetles that work under the bark 

 of trees, also was found in one stomach. In all, weevils of different 

 species were found in 48 stomachs. Sundry other beetles, of more 

 or less economic interest, made up 3.41 per cent of the food. 



Lepidoptera usually appear in the stomachs of birds in the larval 

 form — that is, as caterpillars — but as birds that take their prey upon 

 the wing are not likely to capture caterpillars, this item of food with 

 the swallows is usually composed of remains of adult insects. It 

 amounts to 9.39 per cent of the food of the martin, and is mostly 

 taken at the end of the season; that is, in August and September. 

 None were taken in February and March, and for some unknown 

 reason none were eaten in June. Small moths were found in 39 

 stomachs, and a butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) in 1. It is possible 

 that there were more butterflies which could not be identified. 

 Moths formed the sole contents of 11 stomachs, and in one 12 heads 

 were counted. The distribution of this item of food through the 

 season is very curious and not readily explainable. Over 93 per cent 

 of it is eaten in August and September, with but little in any other 

 month. 



Orthoptera are eaten sparingly by the martin. Their total in the 

 yearly food of the martin is only 1.09 per cent. 



Dragonflies appear to be a favorite food of the martin. They were 

 eaten every month except February and were contained in 65 stom- 

 achs, of which 7 held nothing else. Many were of the larger species, 

 seemingly rather large morsels for the bird. The total for the season 

 is 15.1 per cent of the food, a jDercentage unusually large for these 

 insects and indicating that the martin hunts especially for them. 

 The bank swallow is the only other species that eats enough dragon- 

 flies to warrant a separate record. Adult dragonflies live by killing 

 other insects and thus are usually reckoned as useful creatures, but 

 the young feed to some extent upon small fishes and do some harm 

 in this way. Their destruction, therefore, may be regarded as having 

 a neutral effect. Aquatic in their larval stage, dragonflies naturally 

 stay about water or wet places, and as martins are likely to nesfc at a 

 distance from water, to get them the birds must go to the haunts of 

 the insects. 



A few other insects, mostly Ephemericlee, with a few spiders and 

 sowbugs (8.09 per cent), complete the food. A bit of mollusk shell 

 and a vertebra of a fish are among the curiosities noted. 



Summary. — While in its food habits the martin does not inflict 

 the direct injury upon man that the bird that preys upon his fruit 

 does, yet it must be admitted that in its animal food in theory- it 

 does some harm. Among the Hymenoptera eaten are many parasitic 

 species, all reckoned as useful insects, and the whole order are cer- 



