578 Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 



Edible-bird' s-nest Sivifts in the Andaman Islands. — A 

 recent number of the ' Englishman ' of (Calcutta contains 

 the following account of the mode of collecting the nests of 

 one of the species of Col/ocalia in the Andaman Islands. 

 According to the most recent work on this genus (Hartert 

 in Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. vol. xvi.) three species of Col/ocalia 

 occur in the Andamans (C innomhiata, C. inexpectata, and 

 C. linchi), but not the true C. esculenta, which is a Moluccan 

 species. It would be desirable to know which of these three 

 species makes the edible nests. 



" The Swifts arrive at the Andamans towards the end of 

 November. Before their advent a party of convicts and 

 Andamanese is sent round to all the caves in which the 

 birds build, to clear away the old nests in which the previous 

 season's young have been hatched out, to bring in all the 

 refuse, which is sold for rs. 5 per seer, and generally to clean 

 the caves. The tine break between the monsoons, in October, 

 is generally taken advantage of for this work, but instances 

 have occurred where the collectors have been overtaken by 

 a storm, their boats smashed u]) and lost, and they them- 

 selves placed in rather an awkward position. 



" The birds take their time about commencing to build, and 

 if there has been a wet December the first crop of nests is 

 generally a poor one, being soiled by the damp and drippings 

 from the roofs of the caves. However, about the last 

 week in January, the collectors go round the islands 

 to the ditferent caves, a journey which takes about three 

 weeks in an open boat, and bring in all the nests that have 

 been built. The best quality, resembling pure isinglass, and 

 worth their weight in silver, arc found in caves in limestone 

 and volcanic rock, the nests built in sandstone and serpentine 

 being inferior. 



'' The birds now build much faster, and at the end of 

 February a second collection is made, which is usually the best 

 of the season. The third collection is made in April, when 

 the nests, though of good quality, are thin and dry. The 

 birds are then left to build and hatch out their young. They 

 leave the island soon after the south-west monsoon sets in. 



