90 
THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
the bottom, which is really blind, and one at the top, near its foundation, if we may call it 
so, which leads into the nursery. 
Still more swallow-like in general appearance are the diminutive Edible Swifts, so called, 
not on account of the palatability of the birds themselves, but of their nests, which are in 
great demand by the wealthy Chinese for conversion into birds’-nest soup. It has already 
been remarked that the salivary glands are unusually active in the swifts, their secretion 
bearing a very important part in the construction of the nest, and serving as a kind of 
cement. It is, therefore, not surprising that in some members of the group we find this 
secretion playing a still more prominent part, forming, at least in one species, the entire 
material of the nest. “ With these nests,” writes Dr. Sharpe, “ a large trade is done with China 
from many of the Malavan Islands, over 3,500,000 nests having been known to be exported 
in a single year from Borneo to the latter country. 
... In Borneo and other places the caves in which 
the swiftlets build are leased to the collectors for a 
considerable sum ; but it is only the white nests, made 
of the pure secretion, which are of any real value. 
The nests of those species which mix into their nests 
grass or feathers are not appreciated as an article of 
commerce.” 
Colonel Legge gives some extremely interesting 
particulars concerning the nesting habits of these birds 
in Ceylon. “ It is noteworthy,” he writes, “ that the 
partially fledged young — which were procured on this 
occasion for me, and which I kept for the night — 
scrambled out on to the exterior of the nest, and slept 
in an upright position, with the bill pointing straight 
up. This is evidently the normal mode of roosting 
resorted to by this species. The interior of this cave, 
with its numbers of active tenants, presented a singular 
appearance. The bottom was filled with a vast deposit 
of liquid guano, reaching, I was informed, to a depth 
of 30 feet, and composed of droppings, old nests, and 
dead young fallen from above, the whole mingled 
into a loathsome mass, with water lodged in the 
crevices, and causing an awful stench, which would 
have been intolerable for a moment even, had not 
the hundreds of frightened little birds, as they 
screamed and whirred in and out of the gloomy cave 
with a hum like a storm in a ship’s rigging, power- 
fully excited my interest, and produced a long 
examination of the colony. This guano-deposit is a 
source of considerable profit to the estate, the hospitable manager of which informed us that 
he had manured 100 acres of coffee with it during that season.” 
Phcto hy Jl, S. Rudland Sens 
EDIBLE SWIFT 
The nests of this bird are used for soup j f-ve are seen in 
this photograph 
Humming-birds 
It is generally admitted that Humming-birds are nearly related to Swifts, with which, 
however, they stand in the strongest possible contrast in the matter of plumage — the latter 
being always inconspicuously coloured, whilst the former are for the most part clad in vestments 
so gorgeous as to render it extremely difficult to describe them in sober language. Moreover, 
so great is the wealth of species — some hundreds in number — -and so varied are the form and 
coloration, and so closely do the various types pass one into the other, that their classification 
is a matter of extreme difficulty. 
