BIRDS 



Industrial 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. i., 

 378. 



Quail and 

 Snipe. 



Handled 

 cruelly. 



D.E.P., 

 ii., 504r-9. 

 Edible 

 Nests. 



Three Kinds. 



Season. 



Earliest 

 Description. 



Trade. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 430; 

 iii., 321 2. 

 Uphol- 

 stery. 



THE ECONOMIC BIRDS OF INDIA 



reprinted from European, American and Australian publications. No writer 

 has, so far as I can discover, given particulars of the Indian markets or of Indian 

 experience.] 



(g) Quail, Snipe, Plovers, Floricaa, etc. When speaking of the plains 

 of India the quail and snipe are by far the most important of the game birds. 

 The former are often captured in great quantities and sent alive all over 

 India, and the latter are both trapped and shot. As a protective measure, 

 it may be added that some of the railways refuse to carry live snipe, since 

 the birds do not eat after being captured, and are often handled most cruelly ; 

 for example, to prevent them fighting or escaping, they are blinded or otherwise 

 disfigured. It is to be hoped, therefore, that very shortly, under the new Act, 

 measures may be enforced even more stringent than the humane action of the 

 railway companies. The florican is valued as much for its rarity as for the 

 delicacy of its flesh. [Cf. Ainslie, I.e. i., 392 ; Hunter, Imp. Gaz. Ind., vi., 

 1886 ; John Burke in Field (reprinted in Times of Ind.), Nov. 28, 1899 ; 

 Snipe- Shooting in 2nd., Englishman, Feb. 10, 1902; E. H. A. in Times of Ind., 

 July and Aug. 1899.] 



4. Birds: Edible Nests (Collocalia francica and C.fuciphnya}; 



Blanford, Fa. Br. Ind., iii., 175-9 ; Jacobus Bontius, 1629, in Piso, 

 Ind. Vtri. re Nat. et Med., 1658, 66 ; Forrest, Voy. New Guinea, 1780, 28 ; 

 Milburn, Or. Comm., 1813, ii., 306 ; Crawfurd, Journ. toAva, 1834, ii., 178 ; 

 Royle. Prod. Isinglass, 1842, 53 ; Griggs, Man. Nilgiri Dist., 159 ; 

 Carpenter, Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1888, xxi., pt. i. ; Hickson, Nat. N. 

 Celebes, 1889, 49-50 ; Portman, Journ. Photo. Soc. Ind., 1892 ; H. Waring- 

 ton Smyth, The Wide World Mag., 1898, 288-93 ; Foreman, Philippine 

 Islands, 1899, 366. Edible nests are known in Hindustani as ababil-ka- 

 ghoslah. in Nicobar as hiJcai, and in Burma as gnathiet. 



A fairly detailed account of this curiously interesting edible product will 

 be found in the Dictionary. That article was compiled very largely from a 

 report by Mr. Portman regarding the Andaman, and one by Mr. de Roepstorff 

 on the Nicobar supplies. Blanford tells us that c. frandea, the Little 

 Grey-rumped Swift, affords the purest quality of edible nests. It is met with 

 on the coasts of Tenasserim and Arakan, as also on the rocks in the Andaman 

 and Nicobar Islands. The breeding season is in March. The nests produced 

 by *'. /< t>ini!/H (= c. ,ii,ntii) are found in Ceylon, the Malabar Coast, 

 the Nilgiri and Anaimalai hills, etc. Its breeding season is March to June. 

 The former bird gives nests quite free from grass, moss or feathers, the latter 

 is much adulterated with the substances named, which are simply cemented 

 together by the inspissated saliva. Jacobus Bontius was perhaps the first 

 European writer who described the edible swallow's nest. He gives an excellent 

 picture, and says the nests are sold in great quantity throughout India. He 

 regarded them as made fro'm the foam of the sea. Mandelslo (Travels Ind., 

 1639, 134), speaking of the Malay, says that the swallows' nests were found 

 " on rocks by the seaside, and are of such esteem in China that they sell them 

 for 3 or 4 crowns the Ib." It is probable that Volkamer (Nurrib. Hesper., 1714, 

 ii., 236) is also alluding to this substance when he speaks of the chickens that 

 spin fibre out of their mouths. Milburn says edible nests are found in caves on 

 the sea-coast of Sumatra, Java and many of the Eastern Islands. " The cleanest 

 and best are almost as white as writing paper and as transparent as isinglass."' 

 " They should be perfectly dry; if so crisp as to break, it is the better." 



The merchants who trade in this substance are Chinamen resident in Rangoon. 

 The nests are assorted into three classes and then exported to China. The finest 

 qualities go to Pekin. The Japanese do not use these nests, but they are said 

 to fabricate an artificial nest from seaweed which is sent to China. The trade 

 seems to be declining, as shown by the steady diminution of the sum paid in 

 Burma for the right to work the supplies (see Manures, p. 769 ; Isinglass, p. 695). 



5. Birds : Industrial. The materials that fall under this position 

 are briefly Bird-skins, Feathers, Guano and Quills. The first two may be 

 taken collectively and the third will be found under Manures (see p. 769). 



(a) Bird-skins and Feathers. It is customary to discuss feathers 



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