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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. II., PART I. 



which is situated near the summit of a hill, called by the 

 natives DiyagalaguMwa, or Hunumulnakota, about 500 

 feet above the level of the plain below. The cave consists 

 of a huge mass of limestone, which has separated from the 

 face of the rock, and slipped down upon some loose boulders 

 below, forming a hollow triangle about fifty or sixty feet long, 

 by twenty-five broad and twenty high. There are three en- 

 trances — one at each end and one (a very small one) in the 

 centre. The rocks which compose the floor are covered to the 

 depth of one or two inches with the droppings of theinmates, 

 old and young, mingled with strands of grass, &c, dropped 

 from the nest or by the parent birds. The light which strug- 

 gled into the cave was dim and uncertain, but enough to 

 enable me to discern many hundred nests glued to the rock, 

 glistening like flakes of ice. One side of the cave (the hill 

 side) was entirely unoccupied, I presume on account of the 

 water, which evidently streamed down it in wet weather, 

 and perhaps in the dewy morning, collected from off the 

 trees with which the mountain is densely clad. Within 

 reach of my hand was a small ledge of rock, from which I 

 took five or six nests, and in two of them captured two 

 single young nestlings, fledged enough to escape, which one 

 effected. The nests procured were evidently of the most 

 inferior description, and had been left on that account by 

 the Chinese for the young brood. They were composed of 

 dried grasses, mosses, hair of cattle, <fec, agglutinated 

 together, and cemented to the rock by what is presumed to 

 be the saliva of the parent birds.* 



These substances appear to be laid on most irregularly, 

 in unequal masses. In one nest in my possession the 

 foundation is in thick patches, clear and semi-diaphanous ; 



* Specimens of nests and birds in spirits, for the purpose of being dis- 

 sected and examined by scientific men, have been forwarded to Calcutta. 

 The result of this examination will be communicated in a future paper. 



