12 BULLETIN 619, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
any time to give up the old-fashioned homestead for one provided 
by man is shown, however, in all well-settled localities of the far 
West There it avails itself of barns, sheds, and bridges, as it has 
long done in the East, where its right to a nesting place among the 
rafters is so well established that when new barns are built a hole 
is frequently made up near the peak of the gable for the birds to pass 
easily in and out. 
The food of the barn swallow, like that of its allies, consists almost 
wholly of insects, with an occasional spider or snail. A few bits of 
vegetable matter are taken accidentally — that is. snatched from the 
top of a weed or shrub with an insect taken as the bird dashes past. 
Occasionally a berry or seed is eaten intentionally. Ordinarily all 
food is taken on the wing, but snails have been picked up. probably 
when the bird was getting mud for its nest. 
For the investigation of the food of this swallow -167 stomachs 
were available, collected in the months from March to October, in 
27 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada. The first analysis 
shows that the food is made up of 99.S2 per cent animal matter 1 to 
CIS vegetable. The latter is considerably less than that eaten by 
the cliff swallow. All the vegetable matter found was contained in 
six stomachs, but it was real food in only four. One of these revealed 
seeds of the elderberry ( Sambucus i and of Corny.* sericea. Vegetable 
food in this stomach made up 75 per cent of the contents. The second 
stomach held a single kernel of buckwheat, the third a root or bulb. 
and the fourth two seeds of Cretan tezensis. Having taken so little 
vegetable food, it seems curious that the bird should have eaten anv 
atalL 
Of the animal food beetles of various families amotmt to 15.63 per 
cent. Useful species, that is. those that prey upon other insects, as 
the predacious ground beetles ( Carabidae) and the ladybirds (Coc- 
cinellidaej. amount to 3.4 per cent. The May-beetle family (Scara- 
bteida^i. apparently the most palatable, are eaten to" the extent eff 
6.2 per cent. These are mostly small dung beetles of various sjDecies 
of the genus Aphodia-s. One stomach was noted as containing 50 or 
more, and another, several hundred. Snout beetles, or weevils 1 
per cent ) include a variety of species. First in interest is the cotton 
boll weevil [ Anth.onomus grandls). found in 12 stomachs, with an 
average of somewhat more than 6 individuals each. Next in interest 
is the rice weevil (C olandra. oryza)* which was identified in S 
stomachs, with 153 individuals in one. 50 in another, and from 15 to 
20 in a third. Two species of the genus Sitona were found, •>'. 
f.avescens and 5. hispidulo. both very destructive to forage crops. 
Among other weevils were two of the destructive engraver beetles 
that do so much damage to timber. In all. about SO species of beetles 
