50 6 
SWALLOW. 
zontally 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 com- 
posed of fine filaments, cemented together by a trans- 
parent 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 gray 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 at the foot of the 
highest mountains in the middle of Java, at a 
distance from the sea; from which source it is 
thought that the birds derive no materials, either 
for their food or the construction of their nests ; as 
it does not appear probable they should fly, in 
search of either, over the intermediate mountains, 
which are very high, or against the boisterous 
winds prevailing thereabout. They feed on in- 
sects which they find hovering over stagnated pools 
between the mountains, and for the catching of 
which their wide-opening beaks are particularly 
adapted. They prepare their nests from the best 
remnants of their food. Their greatest enemy is 
the kite ; who often intercepts them in their pas- 
sage to and from the caverns, which are generally 
