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Show 428 MR. E. L. LAYARD ON FIJIAN BIRDS. [June 1, C O L L O C A L I A SPODIOPYGIA (Peale); F. & H. op. cit. p. 48. This littie brown Swift is about the commonest bird throughout the islands, frequenting equally the seaboard and the whole of the inland country. Wherever I have been I have seen it whirling about in pursuit of the tiny insects on which it feeds. It rarely comes within gun-shot, except towards the evening; and then in the uncertain light it often dashes past singly, never in flocks. I never heard it utter a sound. M y son Mr. L. Layard, while on a collecting-trip to the windward islands of this group, heard of several caves in the limestone that prevails there, in which these birds were reported to breed. He writes as follows :- "Before I left England for Fiji in September 1873, I had heard a rumour that the edible-nest-building Swift was found in a cave on one of the islands, and determined to verify the truth if ever I had the chance. In November last I made a trip to the 'Windward Islands,' for the purpose of obtaining some specimens, and to see if the country was suitable for the growth of sugar-cane, which a good many of our unfortunate planters are trying, now that the cotton market has failed them. While at Loma Loma, Mr. Hennings asked me to visit a small island of his, named ' Katafango,' on the extreme outer edge of the Fiji group, where, he said, was a large cave, inhabited by a number of ' small Swallows,' and he was anxious to know whether the'nests were the edible ones or not. Of course I was eager to start at once; but as no vessel was going that way just then, I went to another island named Cicia, where a second ' Swallows' cave' was reported to be. " I found this cave in the face of a great ridge of limestone cliffs, which formed a sea-wall several miles in length on the estate of Mr. Lenuox. There were two entrances to this cave, the one on the ground-level being a deep groove parallel with the sea-shore, and terminating in an immense dome-shaped chamber, tenanted by the birds I was in search of. This chamber was almost circular, about 90 feet high and 120 feet across-with a small round hole, about 6 feet in diameter, halfway towards the roof, looking to the sea, which was the only entrance used by the Swifts, but inaccessible to man. There were a great number of birds flying about the roof, and in and out of their entrance. They kept up a continual low twittering note, such as I had never heard before ; and I noticed that they did not venture more than a few yards beyond the mouth of the cave. The ground was thickly covered with guano, like fine black flour, the depth showing that the birds must have frequeuted the place for a long period. Not having a gun, I could not obtain any specimens ; neither could I get any nests, though I fancied I could dimly discern some on the roof by the light of the old cocoa-nut- leaf torches we carried. I saw the birds were new to me, and asked Mr. Lennox to shoot some, and send them to us in spirits at his earliest convenience. " In the middle of December I visited an island named Mango, the property of Messrs. Ryder brothers, and within sight of Cicia. Th™ |