16 BULLETIN 619, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Columbia. Ontario, and Xew Brunswick, and fairly well represent- 
ing the region from Maine to California and from Canada to Florida. 
Of these 80 contained vegetable food and 35 contained nothing else. 
In the first analysis the food divided into 80.54 per cent animal matter 
to 19.46 per cent vegetable. 
The vegetable food is made up of a few varieties of seeds and 
berries, but more than nine-tenths of it consists of the fruit of a single 
shrub, the barberry, or waxberry {Myrica carolinensis) . The fruit 
of this plant consists of small, dry. hard seeds overlaid with a cov- 
ering of small, irregular black granules, like old-fashioned gun- 
powder, over which is spread a coating of white wax, probably the 
nutritious part of the fruit. This was found in TO stomachs, 30 of 
which contained no other food. The berries, as well as the whole 
plant, are highly aromatic and are eaten by many species of birds, 
but not by any so exclusively as by the tree swallow. They comprise 
16.9 per cent of the food; and as they are eaten all the summer, a 
time when insects are abundant, it is evident that they form a stand- 
ard article of diet and are not a makeshift for lack of better food. 
Of other fruits red-cedar berries (Juniperus virginiana) were found 
in 3 stomachs, rough-leaved cornel (Cornus asperifolia) in 1, and 
Virginia creeper (P arthenocissm quinquefolia) in 1. Seeds (2.56 per 
cent) complete the vegetable food, a grass seed (Zizaniopsis mili- 
acea), one of the smartweeds (Persiearia persicaria) , and an unknown 
seed each being found in a single stomach. 
Beetles collectively total 11.39 per cent, of which the useful species 
amount to 0.97 per cent. Scarabaeidse, the favorites, were eaten to 
the extent of 5.86 per cent. They were mostly of the genus Aphodius, 
small dung beetles, which, much given to flying about early in the 
evening, are easily captured by the swallows. They were found in 
76 stomachs, one of which contained nearly 100. Weevils, or snout 
beetles, were eaten to the extent of only 1.9 per cent. The species 
selected, however, are important. Cotton boll weevils (Anthonomus 
grandis). 45 in number, were found in 6 stomachs; Hyper a 
piMictata, the clover weevil, was found in 1 stomach; Sitona hispi- 
dula, a weevil that does great damage at times, in 10; and S. jlaves- 
cens, another destructive species, in 2 stomachs. Others of the genus 
Sito?ia, not specifically identified, were found in 30 stomachs. Tomi- 
cus pini, an engraver beetle most destructive to pine trees, was found 
in 11 stomachs. Altogether weevils were found in 61 stomachs, one 
of which contained 68 individuals, another 40, and a third 30. 
Among other beetles are several forms commonly known as flea 
beetles. One of these, Epitrix cwcurweris, very destructive to cucum- 
bers, potatoes, and other vegetables, was found in 19 stomachs. 
Other species of similar habits, found in stomachs of tree swallows, 
are Haltica foliacea and Phyllotreta sinuata. In all, 43 species of 
