292 HISTORY OF 



water, dashing against the bottom of the rocks, gather a certain 

 clammy glutinous matter, perchance the spawn of whales and 

 other young fishes, of which they build their nests, wherein they 

 lay their eggs and hatch their young. These nests the Chinese 

 pluck from the rocks, and bring them in great numbers into the 

 East Indies to sell. They are esteemed, by gluttons, as great 

 delicacies ; who, dissolving them in chicken or mutton broth, aie 

 very fond of thena ; far before oysters, mushrooms, or other 

 dainty and liquorish morsels." What a pity this luxury hath not 

 been introduced among us, and then our great feasters might be 

 enabled to eat a little more ! * 



especially if it be true, as is asserted, that the sound varies according to the 

 difterent degrees of velocity in the flight. 



This demi-noctumal bird never quits its retreat but towards tn'ilight ; or, 

 if it ever do so, it is only in sombre and cloudy weather, for it is dazzled by 

 a strong light. The feeblest degree of light suits it best. If it happen to be 

 disturbed and roused on a fine day, its flight is low and uncertain. The re- 

 verse, however, is altogether the case after the setting of the sun. It is 

 then quite lively, and active in its flight, wliich is necessarily irregular, like 

 that of the winged insects which constitute its prey, and wliich it can only 

 seize by short and rapid zigzags. 



It feeds on insects, especially those of the noctiirnal kind, as beetles, 

 cockchafers, moths, &c. It will also eat wasps, drones, &c. It has been 

 observed, that this bird has no occasion to close its bill to secure tlie insects, 

 the interior being provided with a kind of glue, which appears to come from 

 the upper part, and which is sufficient to retain them. Tliis bird has one 

 habit peculiar to itself ; it will make, about one hundred times, in succes. 

 sion, the circuit of a large leafless tree, with an irregular and very rapid 

 flight. And from time to time, it will drop abruptly down, as if to fall upon 

 its prey, and theu suddenly rise again in the same manner. At such times 

 it is exceedingly difficult to bring it within range of shot, for on the advance 

 of the fowler, it disappears so rapidly, that it is impossible to discover tlie 

 piare of its retreat. 



* All authors are agreed on the estimation in which the Chinese, and 

 other Asiatics, hold the nests of the swallow, called Salangana, as a delicacy 

 of the table ; but they difler much as to tlieir composition. According to 

 some, the substance of these nests is a sort of froth of the sea, or of the 

 spawn of fish, wliich is strongly aromatic, though others assert that it has 

 no taste at all ; some pretend that it is a kind of gum, collected by the birds 

 on the tree called CaUimbone ; others, a viscous humour, vdiich they dis- 

 charge tlirougli the bill at the season of reproduction. 'Ihe commercial his- 

 tory of these singular nests is much better understood than their composi- 

 tion, in consequence of their reputed virtue as a restorative. The best 

 account of them which we have met with is given by Mr Crawfurd. " The 

 best nests," he says, " are those obtained in deep, dimip caves, and sucJi as 

 are taken before the birds have laid their eggs. The coarsest are those ob- 

 tained after the young have been fledged. The finest nests arc the whitest; 



