COLLOCAMA. 29 



native who had guided us to the cave said if we waited till 8 or 9 

 o'clock P.M., the birds would coine. We instructed him to do so 

 and to catch some of them in a net he had with him for the 

 purpose. It is known to have other breeding-places on the 

 Malabar coast, viz., the Viugorla rocks, where one hundred- 

 weight of nests is said to be produced annually. If so, this must 

 be the largest breeding-spot on the coast. Also the Sacrifice 

 Rock, 20 miles south of Tellicherry ; besides, I daresay, others. 

 I visited Sacrifice Bock in March 1849. There is one cave here, 

 which had perhaps fifty to hundred nests, and a few had eggs in 

 them. Very few of the nests were of the first make, these being 

 annually taken away by some Moplahs from the mainland. The 

 birds were at this time flying about, feeding on the flies which 

 abounded at the edge of the rock. About twenty couples, perhaps, 

 were present, not more. I doubt if all the places I have enume- 

 rated on the western coast would contain the nests of a quarter of 

 the number of these Swiftlets which I have seen at once in one 

 locality ; if so, where do the others breed ? It has been suggested 

 that they may nestle in inland caves ; but all my enquiries have 

 failed to discover any in India." 



Mr. G. Yidal gives us the following account of a colony breeding 

 in a cave on the sea-coast. He says: "This species, as Jerdon 

 says, is found at one of the group of rocks which lie between 

 Vengorla and Malvan, some five or six miles from the mainland, 

 and breeds there regularly every year. The right to collect the 

 nests is annually sold by auction, and realizes on an average about 

 Ks. 30. Two trips are made by the farmer the first towards the 

 end of February, and the second about the first week in April. 

 The first harvest yields about 1 4 Ibs., and the second from 28 to 

 42 Ibs. Either the yield was overstated by Jerdon, or else the 

 number of birds has greatly diminished since he wrote ; half a 

 hundredweight is now the maximum outturn. 



" None of the nests I have ever got from the Vengorla rocks are 

 pure white. In April 1878 I sent niy shikaree, to bring nests, 

 eggs, and birds, and he returned with specimens of all three. The 

 birds were all Collocalia, and the nests all mixed with grass and 

 feathers, the saliva being pure only where the nest is attached to 

 the rock, and on the rim of the saucer. The nests vary a good 

 deal in size and shape. They are very shallow, seldom deeper 

 than half an inch, and have a diameter of about two inches. 

 Externally the saliva, freely mixed with grass and feathers, is 

 smooth and coagulated. Inside the cup it forms a network of 

 fine shreds. They look at a little distance exactly like deep oyster- 

 shells with one side flattened, the saliva, where it is smoothed 

 down, having a pearly appearance. As this batch of nests was 

 collected about a week after the farmer had paid his last visit to 

 the rocks for the season, and had presumably left no nests worth 

 taking, and as the natives, who ought to have known, persisted in 

 saying that pure white nests were to be had at the first take, I 

 could come to no definite conclusion about the matter. However, 



