Cochin China to rove the islets which skirt their coasts, to the distance of twenty leagues, in search of the nests of these little swallows. . . . The salanganes are seldom ever found but in that immense archipelago which encircles the eastern extremity of Asia... All that archipelago, where the islets may be said almost to touch each other, is extremely favourable to the breeding of fish; their spawn is very abundant; the water is there warmer than in the ocean."

Sir G. Staunton has given a rather different deseription of the esculent swallow and its nest in his account of the Embassy to China, "In the Cass," says he, “a small island near Sumatra, we found two caverns running horizontally into the side of the rock, and in these were a number of those birds' nests so much prized by the Chinese epicures. They seemed to be composed of fine filaments, cemented together by a transparent viscous matter, not unlike what is left by the foam of the sea upon stones alternately covered by the tide, or those gelatinous animal substances found floating on every coast. The nests adhere to each other and to the sides of the cavern, mostly in horizontal rows, without any break or interruption, and at different depths from fifty to five hundred feet. The birds that build these nests are small grey swallows, with bellies of a dirty white. They were flying about in considerable numbers, but were so small, and their flight was so quick, that they escaped the shot fired at them. The same sort of nests are said to be also found in deep caverns at the foot of the highest mountains in the middle of Java, at a distance from the sea; from which source it is thought that the birds derive no materials, either for their food, or the construction of their nests, as it does not appear probable they should fly in search of either over the intermediate mountains, which are very high, or against the boisterous winds prevailing

thereabouts. They feed on insects, which they find hovering over stagnated pools between the mountains, and for the catching of which their wide opening beaks are particularly adapted. They prepare their nests from the best remnants of their food. Their greatest enemy is the kite, who often intercepts them in their passage to and from the caverns, which are generally surrounded with rocks of grey limestone or white marble. The colour and value of the nests depend on the quantity and quality of the insects caught, and perhaps also on the situation where they are built. Their value is chiefly ascertained by the uniform fineness and delicacy of their texture, those that are white and transparent being most esteemed, and fetching often in China their weight in silver.

"These nests are a considerable object of traffic among the Javanese, many of whom are employed in it from their infancy. The birds, after having spent nearly two months in preparing their nests, lay each two eggs, which are hatched in about fifteen days. When the young birds become fledged it is thought the proper time to seize upon their nests, which is done regularly three times a-year, and is effected by means of ladders of bamboo and reeds, by which the people descend into the caverns; but when these are very deep, rope-ladders are preferred. This operation is attended with much danger, and several perish in the attempt. The inhabitants of the mountains generally employed in this business begin always by sacrificing a buffalo, which custom is observed by the Javanese on the eve of every extraordinary enterprise. They also pronounce some prayers, anoint themselves with sweet-scented oil, and smoke the entrance of the cavern with gumbenjamin. Near some of the caverns a tutelar goddess is worshipped, whose priest burns incense, and

lays his protecting hands on every person preparing to descend. A flambeau is carefully prepared at the same time, with a gum which exudes from a tree growing in the vicinity, and which is not easily extinguished by fixed air or subterraneous vapours

It seems impossible to come to any satisfactory decision upon statements varying in so many important circumstances. Were we to determine the substance employed from the concurring testimony of numbers, we should certainly fix upon what is indefinitely called sea-foam. Marsden, indeed, expressly affirms, that "the birds, during their building-time, are seen in large flocks on the beach collecting in their bills the foam which is thrown up by the surf. Of this there is little doubt, but they construct their nests after it has undergone, perhaps, a preparation from a commixture with the saliva or other secretion with which nature may have provided them for that purpose +."

But in opposition to this it is urged that the caves where the nests are found are not always by the sea-side. Mr. Crawfurd, the late British resident at the Court of the Sultan of Java, who superintended for several years the collecting of these nests at Karang-Bolang, tells us that " very productive caves are found in the interior of the country, and at least fifty miles from the sea. It appears probable that they are most abundant on the sea-side, only because caverns are there most frequent and least liable to disturbance. This seems to prove that sea-foam, or other marine production, has no share in the formation of the nest, and the most probable hypothesis is, that the nest is a material elaborated from the food of the bird, a conjecture which would be proved, if, on a skilful dissection, it were discoMacartney's Embassy to China. + Marsden's Sumatra, i. 260.

vered that the bird has any peculiar organs destined to perform such a process *"

The same writer has likewise made the important remark, that "the nests of all the swallow-tribe in these countries are more or less formed of the same singular substance. The common house martin, as I have a thousand times seen, constructs its nest partly of this substance and partly of the ordinary materials of birds' nests, hair, straws, feathers, &c." But as he does not seem to have made much, if any, distinction of species-apparently agreeing with the natives of the country, and (as he mistakenly believes) with "naturalists," that there is "no distinction between the variety of swallow which affords the esculent nest and any other," we think it is probable his house-martin may be allied to the American chimney-swallow (Cypselus pelasgius) mentioned in a preceding page. What he says of the nest, indeed, clearly indicates that he does not refer to that of our window-swallow (Hirundo urbica), which is not made of the ordinary materials of birds' nests, but of clay. The dissection proposed by Mr. Crawfurd has been subsequently performed; and the results are given in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions, by Sir Everard Home, of which the following are the most important passages.

"Sir Stamford Raffles, who has just returned from Java, has brought over a number of these nests, and has been kind enough," says Sir Everard, “" to offer me some of them for the purpose of investigating the materials of which they are composed. He gives it decidedly as his own opinion, that, whatever it is, it is brought up from the stomach, and requires at times so great an effort as to bring up blood, the stain of which is seen on the nest. This account of Sir Stamford Raffles, in the correctness of whose observa

* History of the Indian Archipelago, vol. iii. p. 432,

dubious, Buffon has constructed thereupon one of his singular theories, which has now become established as part of the popular and the poetical creed. "Sweetness of voice," says he, "and melody of song are qualities, which in birds are partly natural, partly acquired. Their great facility in catching and repeating sounds enables them not only to borrow from each other, but often to copy the inflexions and tones of the human voice, and of our musical instruments. Is it not singular, that in all populous and civilized countries, most of the birds chant delightful airs, while in the extensive deserts of Africa and America, inhabited by roving savages, the winged tribes utter only harsh and discordant cries, and but a few species have any claim to melody? Must this difference be imputed to the difference of climate alone? The extremes of cold and heat operate, indeed, great changes on the nature of animals, and often form externally permanent characters and vivid colours. The quadrupeds, of which the garb is variegated, spotted, or striped, such as the panthers, the leopards, the zebras, and the civets, are all natives of the hottest climates. All the birds of the tropical regions sparkle with the most glowing tints, while those of the temperate countries are stained with lighter and softer shades. Of the three hundred species, that may be reckoned belonging to our climates, the peacock, the common cock, the golden oriole, the king-fisher, and the goldfinch, only can be celebrated for the variety of their colours; but nature would seem to have exhausted all the rich hues of the universe on the plumage of the birds of America, of Africa, and of India. These quadrupeds, clothed in the most splendid robes, these birds, attired in the richest plumage, utter at the same time coarse, grating, or even terrible cries. Climate has, no doubt, a principal share in