16 BULLETIN 619, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Columbia, Ontario, and New Brunswick, and fairly well represent- 

 ing the region from Maine to California and from Canada to Florida. 

 Of these 80 contained vegetable food and 35 contained nothing else. 

 In the first analysis the food divided into 80.54 per cent animal matter 

 to 19.46 per cent vegetable. 



The vegetable food is made up of a few varieties of seeds and 

 berries, but more than nine-tenths of it consists of the fruit of a single 

 shrub, the bayberry, or waxberry (Myrica carolinensis) . The fruit 

 of this plant consists of small, dry, hard seeds overlaid with a cov- 

 ering of small, irregular black granules, like old-fashioned gun- 

 powder, over which is spread a coating of white wax, probably the 

 nutritious part of the fruit. This was found in 70 stomachs, 30 of 

 which contained no other food. The berries, as well as the whole 

 plant, are highly aromatic and are eaten by many species of birds, 

 but not by any so exclusively as by the tree swallow. They comprise 

 16.9 per cent of the food; and as they are eaten all the summer, a 

 time when insects are abundant, it is evident that they form a stand- 

 ard article of diet and are not a makeshift for lack of better food. 

 Of other fruits red-cedar berries (Juniperus virginiana) were found 

 in 3 stomachs, rough-leaved cornel (Cornus asperifolia) in 4, and 

 Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinque folia) in 1. Seeds (2.56 per 

 cent) complete the vegetable food, a grass seed {Zizaniopsis mili- 

 acea) , one of the smartweeds (Persicaria persicaria) , and an unknown 

 seed each being found in a single stomach. 



Beetles collectively total 14.39 per cent, of which the useful species 

 amount to 0.97 per cent. Scarabseidse, the favorites, were eaten to 

 the extent of 5.86 per cent. They were mostly of the genus Aphodius, 

 small dung beetles, which, much given to flying about early in the 

 evening, are easily, captured by the swallows. They were found in 

 76 stomachs, one of which contained nearly 100. Weevils, or snout 

 beetles, were eaten to the extent of only 1.9 per cent. The species 

 selected, however, are important. Cotton boll weevils (Anthonomus 

 grandis), 45 in number, were found in 6 stomachs; Hypera 

 punctata, the clover weevil, was found in 1 stomach; Sitona hispi- 

 dula, a weevil that does great damage at times, in 10 ; and JS. flaves- 

 cens, another destructive species, in 2 stomachs. Others of the genus 

 Sitona, not specifically identified, were found in 30 stomachs. Tomi- 

 cus pini, an engraver beetle most destructive to pine trees, was found 

 in 11 stomachs. Altogether weevils were found in 61 stomachs, one 

 of which contained 68 individuals, another 40, and a third 30. 

 Among other beetles are several forms commonly known as flea 

 beetles. One of these, Epitrix cucumeris, very destructive to cucum- 

 bers, potatoes, and other vegetables, was found in 19 stomachs. 

 Other species of similar habits, found in stomachs of tree swallows, 

 are Haltica foliacea and Phyllotreta sinuata. In all, 43 species of 



