THE EDIBLE SWALLOW. 125 



season rise so high into the atmosphere in a moment, 

 as they have to seek their food in distant parts, that 

 they are soon out of sight. In the rainy season, on 

 the other hand, they never remove to a great distance 

 from their breeding-places. 



" About four in the afternoon they again return, 

 and confine themselves so closely to their holes, that 

 none of them are seen any more flying, either out or 

 in, but those which are hatching. They feed on all 

 sorts of insects which hover over stagnant waters, 

 and these they easily catch, as they can extend their 

 bills to a great width. They prepare their nests from 

 the strongest remains of the food which they use, 

 and not of the scum of the sea, or of sea plants, as 

 some persons have supposed. They employ two 

 months in preparing their nests ; they then lay their 

 eggs, on which they sit for fifteen or sixteen days. 

 As soon as the young are fledged, people begin to 

 collect their nests, which is done regularly every four 

 months ; and this forms the harvest of the proprie- 

 tors of these rocks. 



" The business of taking them down from the 

 rocky ledges on which they are placed, is performed 

 by men who have been accustomed from their youth 

 to climb among these dangerous places. They con- 

 struct ladders of reeds and bamboos, by which they 

 are enabled to ascend to the holes; but if the cav- 

 erns are too deep they employ ship-ropes. When 

 they have got to the bottom of a cavern, they place 

 bamboos, with notches in them, against the wall, if 

 11* 



