88 BULLETIN 326. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CARIBBEAN MARTIX. Progne dominicensis (Gmelin), 



GOLONDRINAj GOLOXDRINA DE IGLESIAS. 



The Caribbean martin is a common summer resident in all parts of Porto 

 ftico and occurs also in the island of Vieques. The first were seen at Cayey 

 on January 23, and after this they were common everywhere. On August 16, 

 while on the summit of the range above Adjuntas, martins were heard con- 

 tinually so high overhead that they could not be seen, and occasionally three 

 or four would sweep down over the slopes for a few minutes. These were evi- 

 dently migrant, as they were working steadily southward, though at this date 

 in some localities martins were still feeding young. Stahl (1887, pp. 450, 451) 

 says that they arrive regularly from the end of January to the first of Febru- 

 ary, and gives December 23 as the earliest date in eight years' observations. 

 On the wing they are strong and vigorous, sweeping about in large circles, chat- 

 tering, and calling loudly. The greater number remain close about the towns, 

 perching on wires and roofs of houses, and feeding high overhead. Sometimes 

 parties play about the mouths of lagoons and rivers, frequently darting swiftly 

 down at a boat in the water, and then rising abruptly, only to repeat the per- 

 formance. On cold rainy days they follow cattle in the pastures for the insects 

 they frighten up, or for flies drawn by them. At Cabo Rojo a parrot in a cage 

 screaming and talking interested the martins greatly. Four or five gathered 

 on a wire above it, peering down, twittering, and lifting the wings nervously 

 until, at some piercing shriek, they left precipitately. 



This species was apparently mated when it arrived, and began at once to in- 

 vestigate holes in the church towers and eaves of buildings, with much calling 

 and warbling. In the wilder localities a few sought their ancient nesting sites 

 in hollow trees, though the greater number nest in the towns. Near Mameyes 

 a male was seen disputing with a woodpecker the possession of a hole in a coco- 

 nut palm, and a number were nesting here in suitable localities. On the estate 

 known as Manantial, north of Guanica, about 30 were nesting in small openings 

 in the sides of an old brick chimney 75 feet high, and birds were found occupying 

 holes in trees near the Hacienda Catalina, and along the Rio Guajataca near 

 Quebradillas. They were observed carrying nesting material as early as the 9th 

 of February, but nest building seemed to be rather a dilatory process, and eggs 

 were apparently not deposited before the 1st of May. The first young seen on 

 the wing were observed at Comerio July 27, but fledglings were still being fed 

 in the eaves of a church at Cabo Rojo the last of August, though apparently 

 some of the earlier nesting birds had left the island. Only one brood seemed 

 to be raised. 



Food. — Twelve stomachs of the martin were examined, taken in the months 

 of February and May. These contained animal matter only and usually were 

 well filled. Though this small number can not serve as a true index to the food, it 

 gives an idea of the tastes of the bird. A large number of stinkbugs were taken 

 by nine of the birds, and for the two months amount to 24.17 per cent. Beetles 

 (7.83 per cent) also were present in nine stomachs. Among injurious species 

 were leaf beetles, flea beetles, and a small quantity of weevil remains, while others 

 in the list following are of unknown economic tendencies in the Porto Rican insect 

 fauna. Remains of flies, mainly so badly broken as to be indeterminate, come to 

 26.42 per cent and Hymenoptera to 33.41 per cent. The great bulk of the latter 

 was wasps, only a few parasitic chalcids being found. Dragon flies (8.09 per 

 cent) in five stomachs are the only beneficial insects taken in quantity. One 

 bird had secured a small cricket (Ellipes minuta). 



The martin is without doubt a beneficial species and one to be protected. A 

 few parasitic Hymenoptera are consumed and a little more than 8 per cent of 

 the food is made up of dragon flies, which destroy many mosquitoes, but 



