﻿SWALLOW. 519 



which are as big as thofe of the Martin, and of the fame colour. 



However, we cannot difpute the point. 



The moil curious part of the natural hiftory belonging to this P n L „ ACE AND 

 r ' . Manners. 



bird confifts in the neft, which is compofed of fuch materials as 

 not only to be edible, but accounted as one of the greater!: dain- 

 ties of the Afiatic epicures. It weighs about half an ounce ; and 

 is in fhape like half a lemon, or, as fome compare it, to that of a 

 faucer, with one fide flatted, where it adheres to the rock. The 

 texture of it is fomevvhat like ifinglafs, or rather more like fine 

 gum dragon ; and the feveral layers of the matter it is compofed 

 of, very apparent; being fabricated from repeated parcels of a 

 foft (limy fubftance, in the fame manner as the Martins form 

 theirs of mud. Authors differ much as to the materials of 

 which it is compofed : fome fuppofe it to confift of fea-worms of 

 the Mollujca clafs * ; others of the Sea-qualm (a kind olCuttle-fijh) 

 or a glutinous fea-plant called Agal Agal\. It has alfo been 

 fuppofed that they rob other birds of their eggs, and, after break- 

 ing the fhells, apply the white of them for that purpofe. The 

 ufe that is made of the- neft is twofold : the beft fort, which are 

 -clear and perfectly free from dirt, are difTolved in broths, in order 

 to thicken them ; and are faid to give them an exquifite fla- 

 vour J. Of the black and dirty ones they make glue \. 



* OJbeck. f Forrejf. Voy, p. 28. 



X Chiefly made ufe of in foups and ragouts made of chickens, and mixed with 

 ginfeng. The nefts are to be foaked in water, to foften ; then pulled to pieces ; 

 and, after being mixed with gin/eng, are put into the body of a fowl. The whole 

 is then to be ftewed in a pot, with a fufEcient quantity of water, and left on the 

 coals all night. The morning following it is fit to be eaten. — Voy. ds Siam, 

 vol. i. p. 278. 279. 



|| Mar/den. Sumatr. p. 141. 



4 E 2 Thefe 



