286 . ORNITHOLOGf. 



SPINY-TAILED SWIFT. 



The spiny-tailed swift, a bird resembling the swallow, 

 tenants the groves of Sandoway. 

 A cdnthylis caudacuta. 

 HirUndo " Latliam. 



EDIULL-NEST SWALLOW. 



The swallows, or swiitlets which build the edible nests^ 

 are so numerous in the limestone caves on the islets and 

 islands on the Tavoy coast, that the Gcvernment revenue 

 from the bird-nest farm in 1847 was nearly eleven thou- 

 sand rupees ; but in 1849, it was more than four thousand 

 rupees less. At Mergui they are not so numerous. 



The nests an- of several qualities, the best being those 

 which are taken before the bird lays its eggs, and which 

 sell in China for about forty-five rupees the pound. 



in relation to the identification of the species Mr. Blyth 

 suvs "As regards the Hirundo escuhnta of Linnaeus, there 

 is no reason to suppose that this as described, with yellow 

 .rides and white-tipped tail, has any prototype in nature . 

 the latter would be an anomaly throughout the cypselida?, 

 :>ut may refer perhaps to the white tail-markings of some 

 real hirundo, erroneously supposed to be the constructer 

 if the edible nests. Dr. llorsfield gives the species term- 

 ed Ui-i-'A by the Javanese as Hirundo escuhnta, Osbeck 

 stating that the specimens which he examined in Java," 

 arid those which he took to England, differ from Latham's 



sOTiption in beins uniformly of a blackish colour, with- 



. a white extremity to the rectnees. Another species, 

 Lhe linchi of the Javanese, he gives as H. fuciphaga i 

 Thunberg stating that ' its nest is constructed of mos- 

 ses and lichens, connected with the same gelatinous sub- 

 stance which composes the edible nest of the preceding 

 species.' In the Journal of the Jndian Archipelago, 

 the same two species are distinguished by the names 

 lawet and Kntye, and the nest of the latter is described 

 to be without the least value. And it is added : ' The 

 residence of these swallows, or swiitlets, termed lintye in 

 the caves, contributes greatly to the injury of the holes, 

 for which reason they are destroyed as much as possible 

 at ^ach gathering. The nests which they make are con- 



