THE EDIBLE SWALLOW. 
125 
season rise so high into the atmosphere in a moment, 
as they have to seek their food in distant parts, that 
they are soon out of sight. In the rainy season, on 
the other hand, they never remove to a great distance 
from their breeding-places. 
“ About four in the afternoon they again return, 
and confine themselves so closely to their holes, that 
none of them are seen any more flying, either out or 
in, hut those which are hatching. They feed on all 
sorts of insects which hover over stagnant waters, 
and these they easily catch, as they can extend their 
hills to a great width. They prepare their nests from 
the strongest remains of the food which they use, 
and not of the scum of the sea, or of sea plants, as 
some persons have supposed. They employ two 
months in preparing their nests ; they then lay their 
eggs, on which they sit for fifteen or sixteen days. 
As soon as the young are fledged, people begin to 
collect their nests, which is done regularly every four 
months; and this forms the harvest of the proprie- 
tors of these rocks. 
“ The business of taking them down from the 
rocky ledges on which they are placed, is performed 
by men who have been accustomed from their youth 
to climb among these dangerous places. They con- 
struct ladders of reeds and bamboos, by which they 
are enabled to ascend to the holes; but if the cav- 
erns are too deep they employ ship-ropes. When 
they have got to the bottom of a cavern, they place 
bamboos, with notches in them, against the wall, if 
11 * 
