The Traffic in Birds’ Nests.
The Philippine Islands are rich in growths that would seem strange to an American—edible birds’-nests, roots, nuts, grasses, fruits, and the like. The bird’s nest is sold in large quantities to the Chinese, who make a soup of it,—nauseous, indeed, to foreigners. It is built by a little creature resembling the swallow; is pasty-white in appearance, dotted with red spots. The nests are found high up, in almost inaccessible caves, on cliffs above the sea. Nest-gathering is an occupation by itself, very dangerous, and followed by natives of only extreme hardihood and agility. The birds are robbed of their nests as soon as they are completed, and this first gathering is sold to the Chinese at enormous prices. The bird patiently builds another home, and is again despoiled. The second gathering, however, is deemed second-class in the market; and the third gathering is even more inferior. And ’tis only the approach of the rainy season that protects the bird in the laying of its eggs and in the care of its young.
