54 General Notes. [January, 
Tue Wuite BELLIED SWALLOW (lridoprocne bicolor)—In the 
NATURALIST for November, 1879, p. 706, Mr. Allinson notes hav- 
ing seen swallows, at Beach Haven, N. J., which he took for the 
bank swallow, Coytle riparia, and that he was surprised to find in 
their excrement the seeds of the Bayberry. I think there can be 
no, doubt that the species was the white-bellied swallow, /rido- 
procne bicolor, which does feed in part on the waxy fruit of 
Myrica cerifera. Seventeen years ago I kept the /. bicolor as a 
pet, giving it the freedom of a room, in one corner of which I 
kept a bush of the bayberry, or American myrtle, changing it, as 
soon as the berries were picked off. I also fed it with house flies, of 
which it was very fond. Thebayberry is a hard nut-like seed, and 
its cinereous or whitish covering of wax is a mere pellicle. As 
food for the birds, it amounts to little, unless it can have it in 
large quantity and very often. If, so far as known, the dzco/or is 
exceptional among the swallows in this matter of a mixed diet, I 
think it is equally so in its habits, for it is far less.aerial, and more 
terrestrial, than the other members of its tribe. Of the nearly 
one hundred species of swallows in the world, it seems to me that 
I. bicolor, which is peculiarly American, is an eminently special- 
ized type’—S. Lockwood, Freehold, N. F. 
VIBRATION OF THE TAIL IN Racers.—In the September number 
of the Naturauist, Mr. F. H. King states he has observed the 
fox snake (Coluber vulpinus Cope) making a buzzing noise by 
rapidly vibrating the tail. In the November number, Mr. C. Aldrich 
makes a similar statement in regard to C. obsoletus var. confinis 
B. & G.; I have, in a number of instances, observed the same 
habit in C. emoryi Cope, which is a common species with us. I 
have never known the noise to be made, unless his snakeship was 
first directly disturbed or teased. The sound is usually made by 
e levating from three to four inches of the tail at an angle of near 
70° from the horizon, then giving it a very rapid lateral motion. 
When it strikes leaves or other loose objects, there i is, in addition 
vibrations of the tail in the air. As this habit has been observed 
in three of the six species of this genus, may it not be true of all 
belonging to it ?—F. Schneck, Mt. Carmel, T. 
ForRK-TAILED EUMECES FASCIATUS AND THE VARIABLENESS 
OF THIS Species.—During the last few years the periodical litera- 
ture has been quite prolific with notes on monstrosities in the 
animal kingdom. Prof. J. Wyman reported a specimen of the 
common garter snake (Eutænia sirtalis) with two heads. Mr. 
J. W. A. Wright gives an account of a gopher snake (Pityop/is 
sp. ?); Dr. H. C. Yarrow describes a specimen of Ophibolus 
ckwood’s remarks bear out the advisability of recognizing “for this species, a 
r. Lo 
the genus riko beled lately proposed by us, n pA eiea MaA i 412, Wee 
—E. C. 
