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shape have been found, which, there is no doubt in my mind, belong to this 

 bird. One gentleman says, " Last year while clearing bush I accidentally 

 cut down a tree containing the nest of a riroriro. On examination I found, 

 snugly stowed among the feathers with whicli the nest was profusely lined, 

 three eggs. Two of these were roundish, plump little eggs of a dull- white 

 ground with brown spots ; the other a long, narrow, blue egg, not bulging 

 in the middle, but gradually tapering from end to end, as if intended to be 

 carried in the beak of the cuckoo, and so placed in the nest. Of course, I 

 could not say they actually do this, but it is the only way to account for its 

 presence in the nest, the aperture being far too small to admit either of the 

 New Zealand cuckoos without destroying the whole fabric." 



I need not go into the question of the variability of cuckoos' eggs : it 

 is well known, and has been discussed for the last fifty years. I need onlv 

 say that particular birds have selected particular hosts for generations, 

 and the eggs in these cases have gradually become approximated in size, 

 coloration, and spotting to the eggs of the nest-owner. How the egg of the 

 shining cuckoo is placed in the nest of the warbler is as yet unknown ; the 

 cuckoo almost certainly lays the egg on the ground and then places it in 

 the nest with its beak. 



Mr. Jesse (31) refers to the fact that he has found the egg of the cuckoo 

 in a nest where it is impossible for the bird to have deposited it other than 

 by its bill. The fact of the cuckoo carrying her egg in her bill is now gene- 

 rally admitted (32). In Tasmania (33) a fresh egg of the fantail cuckoo 

 was found deposited on a bare stump. Doubtless it had been laid there 

 by the bird, which was probably disturbed before it could convey it away 

 to some suitable nest. 



There have been a few fortunate observers who have actually seen the 

 deposition of the egg upon the ground by the cuckoo, who then, taking 

 it in her bill, introduces it into the nest (34). The most positive evidence 

 on this point is that of Adolph MuUer, a forester at Gladenbach, in Darm- 

 stadt, who says that through a telescope he watched a cuckoo as she laid her 

 egg on a bank, and then conveyed the egg in her bill to a wagtail's nest. 



Having deposited the eggs in various nests, the adult cuckoos roam 

 about in little flocks of five or six males to one female. They feed on flies, 

 moths, ladybirds, and other insects, until their young ones are able to fly, 

 keeping an eye on them, occasionally feeding them, and getting ready to 

 shepherd them until the time for the return migration. This is quite 

 commonly known and recorded, and I have referred fully to it in connec- 

 tion with the long-tailed cuckoo. Allan Hume (35) says, " I have never 

 seen crows feeding fully fledged koels out of the nest, but I have repeatedly 

 watched adult koels feeding young ones of their own species. I am pretty 

 nearly convinced that after laying their eggs the females keep somewhere 

 about the locality, and take charge of the young directly they can leave 

 the nest ; but I never saw more than one young one in the charge of an old 

 female." Another correspondent says, " I once saw a young cuckoo which 

 was being fed by two little grey warblers. Then I noticed another cuckoo 

 on a branch not far off, and after a little while the little birds fed him also. 

 Thev remained in the same bush all day, and did not mind when you came 

 quite close up to them ; they kept on feeding them till it was getting dark, 

 and next morning I found them again in the same hedge. About 9 o'clock 

 there appeared, to my surprise, a third cuckoo. It was bigger than the 

 others, and seemed very wild. This one could feed itself already, because 

 I noticed it picking things, probably leeches, from the leaves ; but it still 



