The white-bellied swallow eats a considerable number of berries of the bayberry, or wax myrtle. During migrations and in winter it has a habit of roosting in these shrubs, and it probably obtains the fruit at that time.
It is a mistake to tear down the nests of a colony of cliff swallows from the eaves of a barn, for so far from disfiguring a building the nests make a picturesque addition, and their presence should be encouraged by every device. It is said that cliff and barn swallows can be induced to build their nests in a particular locality, otherwise suitable, by providing a quantity of mud to be used as mortar. Barn swallows may also be encouraged by cutting a small hole in the gable of the barn, while martins and white-bellied swallows will be grateful for boxes like those for the bluebird, but placed in some higher situation.
[THE CEDAR BIRD.]
(Ampelis cedrorum.)
The cedar waxwing, or cherry bird ([fig. 17]), inhabits the whole of the United States, but is much less common in the West. Although the great bulk of the species retires southward in winter, the bird is occasionally found in every State during the colder months, especially if wild berries are abundant. Its proverbial fondness for cherries has given rise to its popular name, and much complaint has been made on account of the fruit eaten. Observation has shown, however, that its depredations are confined to trees on which the fruit ripens earliest, while later varieties are comparatively untouched. This is probably owing to the fact that when wild fruits ripen they are preferred to cherries, and really constitute the bulk of the cedar bird's diet.
In 152 stomachs examined animal matter formed only 13 and vegetable 87 per cent, showing that the bird is not wholly a fruit eater. With the exception of a few snails, all the animal food consisted of insects, mainly beetles—and all but one more or less noxious, the famous elm leaf-beetle being among the number. Bark or scale lice were found in several stomachs, while the remainder of the animal food was made up of grasshoppers, bugs, and the like. Three nestlings were found to have been fed almost entirely on insects.
Fig. 17.—Cedar bird.