70 BIRDS OF ARKANSAS. 



April 7) and departs in early October (latest date, October 2). At 

 Delight it was noted as late as October 13. It is reported as a com- 

 mon breeder at Clinton, Newport, and Delight. I found it in every 

 locality visited, except on Rich Mountain, including the following: 

 Mammoth Spring, Conway, Wilmot, Camden, Womble, Mena, Pet- 

 tigrew (in valleys), and Cotter. 



This tanager has received the name of "bee bird" on account of 

 its habit of feeding on honeybees. Its food during the spring and 

 early summer is said to consist chiefly of various kinds of large 

 coleopterous insects, bees, wasps, and others. Later in the season 

 it feeds chiefly on blueberries and other small fruits. 1 



Purple Martin. Progne subis. 



The familiar martin is a common and generally distributed summer 

 resident. Although formerly nesting in hollow trees and reported as 

 doing so as late as 1889 (at Clinton), its present abundance in a given 

 locality is largely dependent on the number of boxes put up for its 

 accommodation. From its winter home in South America the martin 

 arrives in Arkansas usually about the first week in March (earliest 

 record at Helena, February 18, 1897), but does not become common 

 until late in March or early in April. By April 10, at Helena, it has 

 usually begun to nest. Fall migration takes place early, most of the 

 birds leaving the United States in late August and early September. 

 This species has been reported as breeding at Fayetteville, Pea Ridge, 

 Clinton, Newport, Helena, and Delight. I found it at Mammoth 

 Spring, Lake City, Turrell, Stuttgart, McGehee, Wilmot, Eldorado, 

 Camden, Womble, Mena, Conway, Cotter, and Pettigrew. At the 

 last-mentioned place a few pairs were found breeding on the top of a 

 mountain at about 2,200 feet altitude. Martins are strictly insectiv- 

 orous and have been found to capture boll weevils. Farmers should 

 make special efforts to increase their numbers around the farm. 



Cliff Swallow. Petrochelidon lunifrons. 



The cliff swallow is a common migrant in the Mississippi Valley and 

 breeds in the northern part as far south as central Arkansas. The 

 species is an irregular migrant, but may be expected in spring between 

 the first week in April and the middle of May, and is usually again com- 

 mon in late August and September. At Stuttgart, May 12 and 13, 

 1910, 1 noted several small flocks of these birds. As a breeder it is rare 

 and local, the only reports being from Clinton and Pea Ridge. During 

 its southward migration in September this species feeds extensively 

 upon the boll weevil, and when that insect is abundant it forms the prin- 

 cipal food of this swallow. Of 35 specimens collected in the Texas 

 cotton fields, all but one had eaten boll weevils, the total number 

 destroyed by the 34 birds being 638. 



i Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. N. Am. Birds, I, p. 443, 1874. 



