NESTS, EDIBLE, an important article of commerce between the eastern islands and China, and of luxury in China, are the nests of several species of swallow (q.v.), of the genus collocalia. The best known of these birds, 0. eseulenta, is about 4:1- in. in length, 11 in. expanse of wing, dusky black above, pale ash-color beneath. The nest is shaped like that of the common swallow, and adheres to a rock; vast numbers being found together—often in absolute contiguity—in caves of the eastern archipelago; as those of the same and allied species are in other islands of the East Indies. The nests themselves are formed of grass, sea-weed fibers, small leaves, etc., and are attached to the rock by a sort of bracket, made of a gelatinous substance, winch is the part really eaten. This was formerly thought to be made of sea-weeds, but is now known to consist of saliva, which the swallow exudes from the salivary glands under the tongue. The nests are
collected by means of ladders, and often by means of ropes, which enable the gatherers to descend from the summit of a precipice. like the rock-fowlers of the north. The gathering of the nests takes place after the young are fledged, thrice in a year. In the Chinese market the nests are sold for front per lb., according to the quality. and they are, of course, used only by the most wealthy, chiefly for thickening rieb soups. The imports at Canton are reckoned at 1200 pieuls, or 168,000 lbs., representing about 8,400,000 nests. The Bests are very wholesome and nourishing, but quite devoid of the peculiar properties which the Chinese ascribe to them. Five caverns at Karang„ Bol long, in Java, contain 330,000 swallows, and yield annually about 501,000 nests. The Dutch export them to China. The nests weigh about half an ounce each.