Sydney Porter—Wanderings in the Far East



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small, beautiful creature. Sometimes a pair of Bee-eaters can be

seen consorting with these birds as they hawk for insects low over

the surface of the water. These Swallows appear to be a beautiful

shade of shining steel green on the upper surface but in the dried skins

in museums they appear blue.


In the air about the public parks and in most of the large towns

in Malaya one sees huge flocks of two species of Swifts, one of moderate

size and the other very minute. They fly with incredible swiftness

so that the eye can scarcely follow them in their flight. The larger

bird is the Malayan House Swift (Apus affinis subfurcatus), a bird

very common in most of the towns, especially in Singapore and Johore

Bahru. It builds its nests under the protruding upper stories, often

in the main business streets and often in the bazaars themselves, the

birds flying in and out over the heads of the crowds of customers.

At night the bazaars are shuttered up and the birds are not able to

gain access until sometimes late in the morning. Usually there is a

whole conglomeration of these nests, one being built upon the other,

and owing to each nest appearing to be built in layers they rather

have the appearance of huge wasp’s nests.


The other bird, the tiny Eastern Palm Swift (Tachornis battassiensis

infumata), is noted for its extraordinary nesting habits. Robinson, in

his book The Birds of the Malay Peninsula , says : “ The nests are


attached to the under surfaces of palm leaves of the loftier species . . .

are composed of the floss of a thistle-like seed, mingled with dark¬

winged seeds but with no feathers, compacted with the saliva of the

bird . . . the nest itself is a bisected oval about If inches long by f inch

wide . . . the hollow for the reception of the eggs about OH inch.”


One sees huge flocks of these tiny birds flying around the tops of

the huge palms, looking more like a crowd of flies than anything else.

After a rainstorm the birds mount high up in the air until they are

almost invisible.


Another Malayan Swift ( Collocalia innominata) provides the nests

from which the Chinese make their famous “ bird nest ” soup. The

birds build their nests high up in dark caves and these are reached by

huge scaffoldings of bamboo poles. The nests are very small, about

the size of a baby’s hand, and are composed entirely of the birds’



