THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF BIRDS. 19 



five thousand dollars. For generations these caves have 

 supplied the Chinese markets with this novel delicacy, 

 yielding three crops of nests a year, and still show no 

 signs of becoming deserted by the birds which have so 

 long continued to be imposed upon. We believe that 

 the Chinese make these celebrated nests into a kind of 

 soup, which is thought as much of by the mandarins of 

 Canton and Pekin as the turtle soup is by the mayor 

 and aldermen of the largest city in the world. 



Before leaving this division of our subject we must 

 say a few words on sea-fowl. In many parts of the 

 world, especially on remote ocean islands, the sea-fowl 

 are almost the sole support of the few human beings 

 that reside upon them. As a case in point we will 

 instance St. Kilda. This lonely group of ocean islets 

 stands amongst Atlantic swells some ninety miles from 

 the mainland of the west coast of Scotland. The 

 population numbers about seventy souls, and the chief 

 sources of their wealth and sustenance are the myriads 

 of sea birds that cluster on their rocky home. The 

 principal birds are the Fulmar, the Puffin, and the 

 Gannet, the two former species being almost the sole 

 flesh food of the inhabitants. They are eaten in a fresh 

 state, as well as salted and dried for winter provisions. 

 The eggs are also eaten in vast quantities, and are 

 absolutely preferred to those of the Domestic Fowl. If 

 birds were of no further service, we think their worth as 



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