428 MR. KE. L. LAYARD ON FIJIAN BIRDS. [June 1, 
Cottocauia spopiopycia (Peale); F. & H. op. cit. p. 48. 
This little brown Swift is about the commonest bird throughout 
the islands, frequenting equally the seaboard and the whole of the 
inland country. Wherever I have been I have seen it whirling 
about in pursuit of the tiny insects on which it feeds. It rarely 
comes within gun-shot, except towards the evening ; and then in the 
uncertain light it often dashes past singly, never in flocks. I never 
heard it utter a sound. 
My son Mr. L. Layard, while on a collecting-trip to the wind- 
ward islands of this group, heard of several caves in the limestone 
that prevails there, in which these birds were reported to breed. He 
writes as follows :— 
* Before I left England for Fiji in September 1873, I had heard a 
rumour that the edible-nest-building Swift was found in a cave on 
one of the islands, and determined to verify the truth if ever I had 
the chance. In November last I made a trip to the ‘ Windward 
Islands,’ for the purpose of obtaining some specimens, and to see if 
the country was suitable for the growth of sugar-cane, which a good 
many of our unfortunate planters are trying, now that the cotton 
market has failed them. While at Loma Loma, Mr. Hennings 
asked me to visit a small island of his, named ‘ Katafango,’ on the 
extreme outer edge of the Fiji group, where, he said, was a large 
cave, inhabited by a number of ‘small Swallows,’ and he was anxious 
to know whether the nests were the edible ones or not. Of course 
I was eager to start at once; but as no vessel was going that way 
just then, I went to another island named Cicia, where a second 
‘ Swallows’ cave’ was reported to be. 
“‘I found this cave in the face of a great ridge of limestone cliffs, 
which formed a sea-wall several miles in length on the estate of 
Mr. Lennox. ‘There were two entrances to this cave, the one on the 
ground-level being a deep groove parallel with the sea-shore, and 
terminating in an immense dome-shaped chamber, tenanted by the 
birds I was in search of. This chamber was almost circular, about 
90 feet high and 120 feet across—with a small round hole, about 
6 feet in diameter, halfway towards the roof, looking to the sea, 
which was the only entrance used by the Swifts, but inaccessible to 
man. There were a great number of birds flying about the roof, 
and in and out of their entrance. They kept up a continual low 
twittering note, such as I had never heard before; and I noticed that 
they did not venture more than a few yards beyond the mouth of 
the cave. The ground was thickly covered with guano, like fine 
black flour, the depth showing that the birds must have frequented 
the place for along period.. Not having a gun, I could not obtain 
any specimens; neither could I get any nests, though I fancied I 
could dimly discern some on the roof by the light of the old cocoa- 
nut-leaf torches we carried. I saw the birds were new to me, and 
asked Mr. Lennox to shoot some, and send them to us in spirits at 
his earliest convenience. 
“In the middle of December I visited an island named Mango, the 
property of Messrs. Ryder brothers, and within sight of Cicia. This 
