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



The following discussion of the food of the bank swallow is based 

 upon examination of 394 stomachs collected in the months from April 

 to September from 21 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada. 

 The food consisted practically of animal matter alone, but 3 small 

 seeds were found in as many stomachs, probably taken accidentally, 

 and these in the final analysis amounted to only 0.02 per cent of the 

 total. The real food is made up of various insects and a few spiders. 



Of insects, Coleoptera amount to 17.9 per cent, and of these 0.66 

 are useful species; that is, predacious ground beetles (Carabidse) and 

 a few ladybirds (Coccinellidse), which devour plant lice. May 

 beetles (Scarabseidee) amount to 5.48 per eent. These were mostly 

 tumblebugs or the smaller dung beetles, which, while they do no 

 marked harm, do no special good. Fifty individuals of one species 

 (Aphodius inquinatus) were found in one stomach. Snout beetles, 

 or weevils (Rhyncophora), were eaten by the bank swallow to the 

 extent of 5.78 per cent of its food. They occurred in 91 stomachs, in 

 one of which 48 individuals were found, and nearly as many in sev- 

 eral others. The rice weevil {Galandra oryza), so destructive to all 

 kinds of stored grain, was found in 9 stomachs, one of which con- 

 tained 40 individuals, two others 20 each, and others a less number. 

 Cotton boll weevils (Anthonomus grandis) , 80 in number, were found 

 in 11 stomachs. One stomach taken in Utah contained two alfalfa 

 weevils (Phytonomus 'posticus), insects which have done great dam- 

 age in that region. One individual of the plum curculio {Conotra- 

 chelus nenuphar) was found in a stomach taken in New York. The 

 genus Sitona contains a number of very harmful species, many of 

 which were found in 45 stomachs. One stomach contained 26 indi- 

 viduals. Other beetles of a more or less harmful character amount 

 to 5.98 per cent. Among them are several species of the well-known 

 flea beetles, so injurious to garden truck. One of these, Epitrix 

 cucumeris, was found in 10 stomachs. 



Ants, most of which were winged forms, were eaten by the bank 

 swallow to the extent of 13.39 per cent of their food. None were 

 taken in April, but in the other months they form a large percentage 

 of the diet. They appear to be a favorite food, having been found 

 in 121 stomachs and forming the total contents of 11. Other Hy- 

 menoptera were found in 207 stomachs, and 6 contained no other 

 food. As with all birds that capture their prey on the wing, the 

 swallows take many useful parasitic Hymenoptera with the others. 

 No honey bees were identified. 



The bank swallow does not exhibit that fondness for Hemiptera 

 shown by several other members of the swallow family. These 

 insects aggregate for the year only 7.96 per cent, the least eaten by 

 any of the family except the tree swallow. They were taken in every 

 month of the season, but in rather moderate quantities, the most 



