Nests in Trees 



strong, it is still further strengthened by a partition, also 

 made of mud and grass. The inner chamber of the two- 

 chambered nest is lined with feathers, and is used by the 

 female for incubation purposes. The outer chamber 

 appears to be a retiring-room for the male bird. 



The common swallow and the house-martin are also 

 mud-builders, familiar to us all. The latter bird builds 

 a nest shaped like a half basin and usually attaches it to 

 the wall of a building. Pellet by pellet it brings the 

 mud to build its home. Beginning at the bottom, it, so 

 to speak, constructs the base of its nest and, working 

 upwards, it adds the rest piece by piece, allowing each 

 addition to dry before applying another. Often straw 

 and other vegetable matter is added to the mud for 

 strengthening purposes, and the completed nest is lined 

 with feathers and dry grass. 



Curious indeed are the nests built by the edible swifts, 

 for the sole material used consists of the bird's saliva. 

 These nests are considered a great delicacy in certain 

 parts of the world and a large trade has been built up in 

 them they are used for soup-making. 



Mr Charles Dixon, the well-known ornithologist, gives 

 a very good account of the collection of these nests : 

 " The swifts arrive at the Andamans towards the end of 

 November. Before the birds arrive a party of convicts 

 and natives is sent round to all the caves which the birds \ 

 frequent to clear away all the old nests and generally to 

 clean the resorts. The birds appear to be in no hurry to 

 commence nest-building, and the first crop of nests is 

 generally a poor one, being soiled by the damp and the 

 drippings from the roof of the caves. 



" About the end of January the collectors visit the different 

 caves a journey which occupies about three weeks in an 

 open boat, and bring in all the nests that have been built. 

 The best quality of these resembles pure isinglass, are 

 worth their weight in silver and are found in the caves in 

 limestone and volcanic rocks, those from sandstone being 



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