Letters, Extracts, Notices, S^c. 579 



" The nests are very carefully removed from the rock, by an 

 iron trident, and are kept in clean linen bags, as it is 

 important that they should not be crushed, soiled, or wetted 

 by the sea- water. When brought into Port Blair they are 

 cleaned from all feathers and impurities, and then packed in 

 circular bundles weighing about 4 lbs. each, and sealed 

 according to their quality. There are three classes of 

 nests: — 1st class, which are pure white, resembling isinglass, 

 and which realize from rs. 180 to 145 per viss. 2nd class, 

 which arc clean, but yellow iii colour, aiul realize about rs. 

 100 to 110 per viss. .3rd class, which arc discoloured and 

 have feathers and other foreign matter in them, and realize 

 about rs. 90 per viss. The refuse and clippings over from 

 cleaning the nests realize about rs. 4*8 per seer. 



" The nests are formed from a gelatinous secretion from the 

 salivary glands of the birds, but there is one kind of Swift 

 which makes its nests of grass straws, moss, and feathers 

 glued together, and fastened on to the rock by this secretion. 



" The caves in which the nests are found are scattered 

 about the islands, some, such as those at Stewart's Sound, 

 far inland ; others in rocks concealed in mangrove swamps ; 

 and the Malays, who were the original traders here in these 

 articles, must have been very persevering to have found 

 them. I suppose they watched the flight of the Swifts. 

 Many of the caves are quite dark, and in these torches are 

 necessary, and occasionally ladders ; others are only to be 

 approached through the surf.""^ 



Surnames taken from Birds. — Places named from certain 

 well-known birds ai^e common in most countries, and from 

 these places surnames are frequently derived. '' Glad- 

 stone " — a name now in every one^s mouth — is one of such 

 surnames, its derivation bein;^ obviously Glead^s-stone, i. e. 

 the stone which the Glead or Kite (Milvus regalis) frequents. 

 Hawkstone (in Shropshire) is similarly formed ; and in 

 Germany we find many corresponding terms, such as Adler- 

 stein, Geierstein, and Falkenstein. In Hampshire I know 

 of a field called '^ Kite-hill," and in Berkshire there is a 



