266 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



Immediately after the breeding season, even by the first of 

 July, these swallows gather into flocks and roost by night in 

 the reeds in the marshes. Chapman says: "They migrate 

 by day, leaving their roosting-ground in flocks which some- 

 times contain myriads, and, after attaining a great height, 

 pursue their journey to the south."* Their flight is ordi- 

 narily performed at a moderate height, but not so low as the 

 barn swallow. They do not fly so swiftly as the latter bird, 

 and are much given to sailing about in circles. In the South 

 in winter and during migration the birds feed about pastures, 

 marshes, rice fields, and over bodies of water. Especially do 

 they frequent tracts of bayberry or wax-myrtle bushes, the 

 fruit of which in winter forms in some regions their principal 

 food. 



Food habits. — The tree swallow differs from the other swal- 

 lows in that it feeds to a considerable extent on berries as 

 well as insects. Examination of 343 stomachs in the Biologi- 

 cal Survey showed the food of this species to consist of about 

 80 per cent animal matter and 20 per cent vegetable. Prof. 

 Beal states that the vegetable food is made up of a few varie- 

 ties of seeds and berries, but more than nine-tenths of it con- 

 sists of the fruit of a single shrub, the bayberry, or waxberry 

 (Myrica caroUnensis) . These berries were found in 70 stom- 

 achs, 30 of which contained no other food, and as they are 

 eaten all the summer, at a time when insects are abundant, 

 it is evident that they form a standard article of diet and are 

 not a makeshift for lack of better food.f 



Other berries, including those of the red cedar, dogwood, 

 and Virginia creeper, are occasionally eaten. The habit of 

 feeding on the berries of the wax myrtle makes it possible for 

 the tree swallow to remain all winter in cold climes, even as 

 far north as New Jersey. Of the insect food, flies comprise 

 the largest item — over 40 per cent of the total. These include 

 crane flies, horse flies, and house flies, the last being most 

 numerous. Beetles, including the cotton-boll weevil and other 

 destructive weevils, are extensively eaten. Other insects 



"Chapman, F. M., Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America, p. 419, 1912. 

 tBeal, F. E. L., Bull. 619, U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 16, 1918. 



