The Press., 1905-07-26
EDIBLE BIRDS, NESTS.
The Way They Are Gathered by the
Dyaks In BOPne0.

The way Vhey Are Gatnere0 ~ the
Dyalzs In Borneo.
Edible birds nests are found in the
clefts Of rocks or In underground caves
which are frequently Of great extent.
John MacGregor in writing of bird
nesting experience he had in Borneo
says: "Off we went with about dozen
Dyaks, as the little bronze aborigines
of this part of Borneo are called, for
guides. The entrance to the cave was
SO small and SO elevated that I had
some little difficulty in reaching 1t.
After we had travelled for some dis
lance we came across the inevitable
stream. The ground, which was to q
great extent composed Of the bed Of
the stream, was rough and irregular.
We were lighted on our way by torches
carried by our Dyak guides At last
we came to a passage that seemed
veritable eye Of a needle, SO hard it
was to enter. for it looked 50 narrow
and confined that despaired Of ever
getting through it. When fairly got
squeezed into the breach I could force
myself neither upward nor downward
for that was the direction of the pas
sage-and there I was, suspended like
Mohammed's coffin or a trussed fowl.
By dint Of wriggling, however, at
last found myself on the top Of the
passage, minus a certain amount Of
skin and some buttons from my tight
fitting khaki coat.
"Still on we logged for the best part
Of a mile, when, 10 and behold, the
caves in which the birds were breeding
and which were to be the limits Of our
underground wanderings! A faint glim-
mer Of light could be seen through a
rift in the rocks far above us, and it
was through this small rift, which was
sealed passage even to the Dyaks
themselves, that the birds passed in
their journeys to and from their nest
Ing grounds. Our arrival, Of course,
disturbed whatever birds were there.
and they disappeared as best they
could. And there, for time, we watch
ed the Dyaks going through their gym
nastics of robbing the BIRDS nests.
with their ropes and long poles creep
ing along the high ridges and lodges In
the lurid light of the torches like un-
earthly specters.
'These peculiar nests are built BY a
species Of swallow. The nests consist
Of shallow, cup shaped cavities, trun-
Gated at one side, where they are at
tached to the rocks like brackets to q
wall, and forming something like q
two-thirds segment of circle. It is
not always easy to get at them, as
they are sometimes glued to the per-
pendicular sides Of the solid rocks high
overhead, so that the nest hunters have
to scale these crags with ropes and
poles to get at them. In substance
they consist Of an elastic, semitrans-
parent, mucilaginous material, which is
said to be a secretion, or macerated
food, from the crops of the birds them
selves.
"As robbing these nests for CONNER
cial purposes forms a part Of the Dy-
axis means of livelihood, the birds
have frequently to build twicee0r even
three times during the season before
they are able to hatch their offspring,
and it is noted that each successive
crop Of nests deteriorates in both con-
struction and composition. The nests
built at the beginning of the season
are bright and transparent and are
consequently known on the market as
white nests but when they are rob-
bed the next crop is not nearly SO
pure in substance"