46 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
cerated in the stomach of the bird. The nests are used in 
making soup^ or rather in flavouring it : being high-priced, 
it is only a small part of the people who can command this 
luxury. The nests, mixed with spices, sometimes form the 
stuffing of a fowl, which, when stewed, is a favourite dish 
with Chinese gourmands. Mr. Adams says the bird is 
common on the rocky parts of the coast of Borneo, where 
he has seen it skimming backwards and forwards all day 
long, uttering its little cheerful chirp as it eagerly pursues 
its insect prey"^.^^ He has taken the nests from the sides of 
shallow caves, where they adhere in numbers like so many 
watchpockets. The eggs are generally two in number ; they 
are white and have a slight pinkish tint. The nests are 
either white, red, or black; the lighter-coloured fetch the 
best price in the market. The bird itself is of a light brown 
colour on the upper parts, the under parts and the tip of the 
tail are whitish. 
Mr. Low assures us that more than one species of swallow 
construct these edible nests. He met with one peculiar to 
the limestone mountains of the interior of Borneo, which 
constructs a nest of a dusky colour, much inferior to the 
nest of the bird which builds on the sea-coast. To get at 
* Voyage of Samarang, vol. ii. p. 435. 
