106 BIRDS' NESTS 



packed in circular bundles weighing about four 

 pounds each, and sealed according to their quality. 

 There are three classes of nests — 1st class, which 

 are pure white, resembling isinglass, and which 

 realise from Rs. 130 to Rs. 145 per viss ; 2nd class, 

 which are clean, but yellow in colour, and realise 

 about Rs. 100 to Rs. 110 per viss; 3rd class, which 

 are discoloured, and have feathers and other foreign 

 matter in them, and realise about Rs. 90 per viss. 

 The refuse and clippings over from cleaning the 

 nests realise 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 nest 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." 

 Some of the other Swifts are occasionally met with 

 breeding in caves, as, for instance, the Alpine Swift 

 {Cypselus melha) ; also certain species of Swallow, as, 

 for instance, Hirundo hyperythra, and less frequently 



