124 INSESSORES. 



Swallow, from the fact that their nests form an arti- 

 cle of food very highly prized by the Chinese epi- 

 cures. These nests are regarded as a great delicacy, 

 and are so much in esteem that the finest of them, 

 it is said, will bring their weight in silver. They 

 form a very important article of trade, as about 

 thirty thousand tons of Chinese shipping are em- 

 ployed in it. The income arising from this singular 

 traffic is appropriated by the government as one of 

 its revenues. 



The following interesting account of the habits of 

 these birds, and the method of obtaining the nests, 

 is from Stanley's " Familiar History of Birds/' 

 "The two bird-mountains [in the island of Java] 

 are insulated rocks, hollow within and pierced with 

 a great number of openings. Many of these open- 

 ings are so wide, that a person can enter them with 

 ease; others are attended with more difficulty, and 

 some are too small to admit of intrusion ; in these, 

 therefore, the poor little birds are alone safe from 

 robbery. To the walls of these caverns the birds 

 affix their small nests in regular rows, and so close 

 that for the most part they adhere together. They 

 construct them at different heights, from fifty to sixty 

 feet, sometimes higher, sometimes lower, according 

 as they find room ; and no hole or convenient place, 

 if dry and clean, is left unoccupied ; but if the walls 

 be in the least wet or moist, they immediately desert 

 them. At daybreak these bird^ fly abroad from their 

 holes, with a loud fluttering noise, and in the dry 



