NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Description of the nest. 



one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars the picle, 

 (about 25 pounds) ; the black and dirty ones for 

 only twenty dollars. It is said that the Dutch 

 alone export from Batavia one thousand picles of 

 these nests every year ; which are brought from 

 the islands of Cochin-China, and those lying 

 east of them. Notwithstanding the many lux- 

 uries imported by us from the East, these nests 

 are yet so scarce in England, that they have not 

 found their way to our tables. 



Sir George Staunton, in his " Account of the 

 Embassy to China/' gives the following descrip- 

 tion of this bird's nest :>-# In the Cass (a small 

 island near Sumatra) were found two caverns, 

 running horizontally into the side of the rock ; 

 and in these were a number of those birds'-nests 

 so much prized by the Chinese epicures. They 

 seem to be composed of fine filaments ; cemented 

 together by a transparent viscous matter, not 

 unlike what is left, by the foam of the sea, upon 

 stones alternately covered by the tide, or those 

 gelatinous animal substances found floating on 

 every coast. The nests adhere to each other, 

 and to the sides of the cavern ; mostly in rows, 

 without any break or interruption. The birds 

 that build these nests are small grey swallows, 

 with bellies of a dirty white. They were flying 

 about in considerable numbers ; but were so 

 small, and their flight was so quick, that they 

 escaped the shot fired at them. The same sort 

 of nests are said to be also found in deep caverns 



