Edible Bird's Nest, the nest of the sea swallow of the Malay archipelago, called laic it in Java and salangane in the Philippines (hirundo esculenta). The bird is uniformly dark-colored, inclining to green on the back and blue on the breast, has a short, strong bill, broad at the base, and is a little smaller than our swallow martin. It gathers from the coral rocks of the sea a glutinous weed or marine fucus, which it swallows and afterward disgorges, and then applies this vomit with its plastic bill to the sides of deep caverns, both inland and on the seacoast, to form its nest. When complete the nest is a hollow hemisphere, of the dimensions of an ordinary coffee cup. When fresh made it is of waxy whiteness, and is then esteemed most valuable; of second quality, when the bird has laid her eggs; and of third, when the young are fledged and flown. The lawit frequents mostly the deep, surf-beaten caves of the S. coast of Java, principally those of Karang Bollong (hollow reefs), in the province of Bag-len. These caves open at the base of a perpendicular face of rock, nearly 500 ft. high, the mouths being from 18 to 25 ft. in breadth and 30 ft. in height; within they continue to expand, until they attain the dimensions of from 100 to 120 ft. in width and 450 ft. in height, and for many hundred feet within the waves break with terrific fury.

The collectors of the nests are lowered over fearful chasms, and move along a slippery foothold, at the risk of instant destruction. The collections take place in April, August, and December. These nests are also obtained in other parts of Java, and the islands eastward, on the coasts of Borneo, and in the limestone caves of the Philippines. The whole product of Java and Netherlands India, which is a government monopoly, is 40,000 or 50,000 pounds annually, worth from $5 to $35 a pound; some of the finer sorts sell in Chinese markets for twice their weight in silver. It is well known that the edible nest is a whimsical culinary fancy of the Chinese alone; they use it in the preparation of their most refined soups. Alone it has an insipid glutinous taste. The Chinese attribute to it peculiar strengthening qualities; but this sensual people chiefly prize it for its alleged properties as an aphrodisiac.