104 BIRDS' NESTS 



America. The Guacharo is a cave dweller in every 

 sense of the word, not only rearing its young in 

 caverns but spending the entire day in these gloomy 

 retreats, coming forth at night in quest of food. The 

 nest of this bird is said to be made of clay, and bowl- 

 like in shape. Vast numbers of these birds live in 

 company, and their caves are harried by the Indians 

 for the sake of the young Oil Birds, which are excep- 

 tionally fat, and yield a certain oil much prized for 

 culinary and illuminating purposes. The last avine 

 cave dwellers that we may notice here are the species 

 forming the genus Collocalia. These are the Swifts, 

 the nests of which are made into the famous birds'- 

 nest soup, a delicacy so highly prized in China and 

 other parts of the East. Perhaps the best known 

 species is the Collocalia esculenta, an inhabitant of 

 the Moluccas, but three others are found in the 

 Andaman Islands. A very interesting account of 

 these latter appeared some years ago in a Calcutta 

 paper, and w^as republished in the Ibis for 1892 

 (pp. 578, 579), and which may be quoted here. " 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 aw^ay 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 fine break between the monsoons, in October, is 



