20 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



which was placed at my disposal by the head man ; it 

 is also the cave at which the great body of swifts (escu- 

 lent swallows) enter. At a quarter to 6 p. m. the 

 swifts began to enter the White Cave. A few had 

 been flying in and out all day long, but now they 

 began to pour in, at first in tens and then in hundreds. 

 They continued flying in until after midnight, as I 

 could still see them flashing by over my head when I 

 went to sleep. As long as it remained hght I found 

 it impossible to catch any with my butterfly net, but 

 after dark it was only necessary to wave the net in the 

 air to secure as many as I wanted. Nevertheless, they 

 must possess wonderful powers of sight to fly about 

 in the dark in the most obscure recesses of the cave, 

 and to return unerringly to their nests, often built in 

 places where no light ever penetrates. Arising be- 

 fore daylight I witnessed a reversal of the proceed- 

 ings of the previous night, the swifts now going out 

 of the White Cave. 



" In this cave I saw the nest gatherers at work 

 getting in their crop. A thin rattan ladder was 

 fixed at the end of a long pole and wedged against 

 the rock. Two men were on the ladder. One car- 

 ried a long four-pronged spear, a lighted candle be- 

 ing fixed to it a few inches below the prongs. By 

 the aid of this light a suitable nest is found and trans- 

 fixed with the prongs ; a slight twist detaches the 

 nest unbroken from the rock ; the spear is then with- 

 drawn until its head is within the reach of the second 

 man, who takes the nest ofl: the prongs and places it in 

 a pouch carried at his waist. The nests of best quality 



