And de banging on de drums would exhaust not just de birds, but de farmers.
Which is why there are no farmers anymore in China.
Only gold farmers.
The number of birds in China is interesting…interestingly LOW. Although there are even FAMOUS bird reserves, between the Chinese idea that animals are either pests,food, or both means almost anything was eaten.
-Since birds are VERY vulnerable to pollution and insecticide, China’s enviromental problems may also have reduced the mumber of birds.
Fuckers sure managed to come back with a vengeance, then. Maybe he should have coordinated with Salazar.
I understand the rats were very upset. They thought they had immunity by professional courtesy.
Maybe Franco was refering to Republicans.
There is a kernel of truth to this:
There has to be some pretty serious inbreeding problems in that gene pool.
But he surely would reserve a stock for bird’s nest soup.
Obligatory Shakespeare (King Lear), apparently referring to the same animal, the cave swift:
EDGAR
Come on, sir; here’s the place: stand still. How fearful
And dizzy 'tis, to cast one’s eyes so low!
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head:
The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,
Appear like mice…
[Italics mine]
Samphire is an edible coastal plant. It has nothing to do with bird’s nest soup, and the cave swift (from whose spittle the soup is derived) is not found anywhere near England.
Also, as the only bird that Mao targeted was the sparrow (see above), of course the cave swifts were not affected. They are not going to be hanging out around farms much anyway.
The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?
njtt is correct. I mis-italicized the correct phrase (more precisely, truncated it). It’s not the samphire, but the samphire collector who Edgar refers to, who has a dreadful trade, clambering on the side of the (purported) cliffs of Dover.
The same work skills are those needed for a cave swift-nest hunter, and I took my clue from there. The passage mentions choughs, however, and they nest very high and hang out in England and Wales, eg. It is on the coat of arms of St. Thomas Beckett; the Wiki article has a nice picture of them hanging out in Wales.
Anyone who could prove that Shakespeare had the slightest inkling of bird’s nest soup could probably get tenure. 
As to his lack of veridicity in all matters, it is nothing at all to him.
Anyway, it was just a relevant and nice quote which I thought of, and by Doper convention introduced it with “obligatory.”
I don’t know, but it’s a great line for a poem.
It could have gripped it, presuming it weighed under 10 lbs.
Are you suggesting cave swift nests migrate?
It could be carried.