OF BIRDS. 
205 
The nefts were immediately difcovered to be of 
that kind, which the Chinefe consider as fo great a 
delicacy; uiing them in foups, and ragouts made 
of chickens, and mixed with ginfeng. 
The nefts are firft foftened by being {leaped in 
water, then pulled to pieces, put into the body of 
a fowl, and flewed. 
Mr. Poivre fays, that in the months of March 
and April, the furface of the fea from Java to 
Cochin-China, and from Sumatra to Guinea, is 
covered with a vifcous Jubilance, (perhaps fifh 
fpawn) which refembles glue, or ifinglafs diflblved. 
TheEfculent Swallow is fuppofed to make its neft 
of this matter, which it may colledl as it flies, or 
take from the rocks, where it may have been left 
by the waves. 
Mr. Poivre collected, and dried fome of this 
fubftance, and found it refembie very nearly the 
fubftance of the neft. 
The colour of the new nefts is white, like 
ifinglafs ; and as the materials of which it is made 
are foluble in water, the birds very wifely build 
them in caverns, fheltered from rain. 
Some of the nefts are of a darker colour; thefe 
are fuppofed fo be older, and mixed with impuri¬ 
ties, and are ufed as glue. 
The nefts weigh about half an ounce each ; they 
5 
are 
