The record-union., 1898-02-14
Hig h-Priced Nests.

Though one hears of bird nest SCUM
as an Eastern delicacy that figures on
the menus of Chinese restaurants in
the United States. the fact is they are
much TOO expensive for ordinary fare
and most of the Cinnamon one sees
in this country have never tasted 1t any
more than you have.
Birds nest soup does really figure.
however, on the festal menus of diplo.
mats and wealthy merchants in this
country, for the nests bear importation
perfectly well. They are in fact, i'm
ported into China.
Most of them come from Java and
the Philippine Islands, where the sea
swallow builds them in a very curious
way. There are two kinds of these
swallows, by the way, one similar to
wren, the other double the size of the
martin. Naturally the nests of the big
ger bird are most sought for, and they
are about as big as a common coffee
cup.
The bird builds in the caves and cav
erns in the walls of these precipitous
coasts.
The birds fill their crops with fish
spawn, glutinous weeds and jelly-iike
animals. such as are always to be found
along any coast; this matter the bird
can disgorge, and after it is we'll mixed
up into Shiny mass it does disgorge
it, and starts about building its nest
out Of it. The swallow has a beak like
a trowel, that is just the thing for the
work. But troweI and all, it is slow
work, and it takes a pair about two
months to make the pretty waxy- white
nest.
Now If the nest gatherer can snatch
it away while it is still fresh he will
count himself lucky. for the whittier it
is the higher price it will bring. II
the birds get the use of it it will grow
darker and dirtier with each day. Two
eggs will be laid in it, and they will
hatch in about fortnight, but even
if the nest hunter, Malay, JavaneSe or
Chinese, does not find it till after the
birds are reared and flown, he viii still
grasp it as a prize. People who can
not afford fresh birds nests are glad to
get old ones.
One piece of luck for the nest gath
erer is that the birds like close neigh
bors, and build their nests SO that they
actually touch each other, and many
thousands are found adhering together
in rows and tiers without a break.
Inc caves OF hdTOIlS bOllOHS Ntle
hollow reefs) on the south coast of
Java, are the most productive of all the
sea swallows breeding places. The
face Of the coast is a sheer wall of rock.
500 feet high, and though the entrances
into the caves are only twenty or thirty
feet high, inside they expand into tre-
mendous caverns hundreds of feet in
hight, through which the Indian Ocean
booms and echoes forever. Torches
and ladders (of rope. bamboo and reed)
equip the nest gatherers, whose season
is April August and December.
When the nests are gathered they are
dried In the shade and then sorted and
packed according to quality. They are
put into wooden boxes that hold about
1873 pounds, a weight called plcui.
They ere shipped to China, and sell at
wholesale from something under S2,0OU
a picul to about $1,000 a picul. The
very best fetch about $40 pound
And what does the soup that has cost
all this danger and toll taste like!
Lawrence, who has tried it. declares 1t
very much like an editors paste pot
CIoyyalopd leader.