It is the home of enormous flocks of white birds, which resemble in form the heron rather than the eider duck, but which, like the latter, line with down drawn from their own breasts the nests which, counted by millions, occupy every nook and cranny of the crystalline walls, about ten miles in circumference.

Each of the nests is nearly as large as that of the stork.

They are made of a jelly digested from the bones of the fish upon which the birds prey, and are almost as white in colour as the birds themselves.

Freshly formed nest dissolved in hot water makes dishes as much to the taste of Martialists as the famous bird-nest soup to that of the Chinese.

Both down and nests, therefore, are largely plundered; but the birds are never injured, and care is taken in robbing them to leave enough of the outer portion of the nest to constitute a bed for the eggs, and encourage the creatures to rebuild and reline it.
One harvest only is permitted, the second stripping of feathers and the rebuilt nest being left undisturbed.