SWALLOWS 261 



that locality were noted September 11. Holt observed a flock 

 of several hundred at Tuscaloosa, July 22, 1913, gathered late 

 in the afternoon over the center of the town. Eggs of this 

 species have been found at Autaugaville, May 28, and at Bara- 

 chias, June 14. 



General habits. — The martin is a bird of the open country, 

 found in abundance everywhere in cultivated regions of the 

 State. Nesting as it does about dwellings and farm buildings, 

 it is well known and universally beloved. Practically every 

 farmyard has some provision for these birds in the way of 

 nesting boxes, and even the rustic cabins of the negro field 

 hands are not without their string of hollow gourds hung on a 

 pole for the accommodation of the birds — a practice, Gosse 

 tells us, learned from the Indians. At present this bird is 

 mainly dependent for its nesting sites upon boxes or gourds 

 put up for its accommodation ; it is said, however, occasionally 

 to nest in woodpecker holes. 



Like the other members of its family, the martin takes its 

 food entirely on the wing, coursing swiftly over pastures and 

 cultivated lands in its pursuit of insects. The birds frequent- 

 ly alight on dead trees and just prior to the autumn migra- 

 tion they gather into large flocks and spend much time on 

 these perches and about the spires of churches or other town 

 buildings. At this season they roost at night in willows or 

 other deciduous trees, or in long grass and reeds in marshes, 

 retiring to the roost at dusk and leaving at break of day. 



Food habits. — The food of the martin as determined by 

 Prof. Beal, consists entirely of insects, with a few spiders. 

 Hymenoptera — ants, bees, and wasps — furnish the largest 

 item, amounting to 23 per cent of the total. The bird has 

 frequently been accused of destroying honey bees, but exami- 

 nation of over 200 stomachs showed only 5 containing these 

 insects, all of them drones. Flies, including many long-legged 

 tipulids and some of the house-fly family, are eaten to a con- 

 siderable extent, forming about 16 per cent of the food. 

 Hemiptera, or bugs, including stink-bugs, tree hoppers, negro 

 bugs, and one squash bug, were found in the stomachs and 

 formed nearly 15 per cent. Beetles amounted to about 12 

 per cent and included May beetles, ground beetles, dung 



