TERMITES IN THE UNITED STATER. 9 



Hagen states, 1 in mentioning; an exceptionally large swarm which 

 occurred in Massachusetts : 



Last Sunday, May 19 (1878), on North Avenue, near Everett Street, there 

 passed just before the windows of the house of Prof. Hedge, while the family 

 was at breakfast, a cloud of flying insects, dark enough to draw the attention 

 of the family. They went out of doors and saw the cloud coming from the 

 east, a part alighting on the garden steps. Some of the insects were preserved 

 alive and sent to me, and proved to be Leucotermes (Termes) flavipes. 



The phenomenon was more remarkable, and their attention more strongly 

 called to it, by finding 15 different kinds of birds following the insects so 

 eagerly that even the presence of the family did not disturb them. Besides 

 the common robbins, bluebirds, and sparrows, were others not seen before near 

 the house. The birds caught the Termes partly in flight, partly on the ground, 

 and the robins were finally so gorged in appearance that their bills stood open. 



I think such a flock of birds following an emigration of white ants — which 

 is very common in the Tropics — has never been noticed here. Perhaps the 

 very early appearance of white ants (commonly they arrive in the middle of 

 June) explains the hunger and eager persecution of the birds, as other insects 

 are still rare. 



The Biological Survey has found that termites constitute part of 

 the food of at least 27 of the species of birds living in the United 

 States. The woodpeckers are represented in this list by 8 species, 

 and no fewer than 1,100 termites have been found in a single stomach 

 of the common flicker. Other birds consuming noteworthy numbers 

 of termites are the nighthawk (largest number found in one stomach. 

 220), chimney swift (160), tree swallow (75), barn swallow (50), 

 and bank swallow (50). The complete list of birds is as follows: 

 Wood duck, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, red-cockaded 

 woodpecker, Nuttall's woodpecker, pileated woodpecker, flicker, red- 

 shafted flicker, gilded flicker, nighthawk, chimney swift, kingbird, 

 Cassin's kingbird, black phocbe, western wood-pewee, horned lark, 

 meadowlark, song sparrow, scarlet tanager, barn swallow, tree swal- 

 low, bank swallow, mockingbird, catbird, Carolina wren, wood 

 thrush, and bluebird. 



Barnyard fowls also are attracted to the swarming insects and cap- 

 ture large quantities of the insects as they emerge. Lizards (in 

 California and in southeastern Texas) have been observed to de- 

 vour swarming termites. Many different species of spiders also 

 prey on the insects after they alight on the ground. Among the in- 

 sects, ants 2 greatly diminish the number of the colonizing indi- 

 viduals at the time of the annual swarm. Centipedes have been 

 observed in Virginia to carry away in their mandibles workers from 

 a disorganized colony; they are sometimes found in the covered 

 earthen runways of termites. Crickets 3 have been recorded feeding 



1 Hagen, H. A. Note. — In Proc. Soc. Nat. Hist. Boston, v. 20, p. 118, Nov. 27, 187S. 



2 Species of Cremastogaster, Camponotus, and Formica. 



3 GryUus pennsylvanicus Burm. 



11433°— Bull. 333—16 2 



