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 
trafic 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 birds fly abroad from their 
holes, with a loud fluttering noise, and in the dry 
