5^8 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Exceptions always seem to prove the rule. Cuckoos, being insec- 

 tivorous, usually deposit their eggs in the nest of a bird used to a similar 

 diet. But here we have a partly graminivorous bird chosen as a foster- 

 parent. Mr. Ed. Cornwall related to me how he once found a Finch's 

 nest containing the fresh egg of the Nai'row-billed Cuckoo. But the 

 strange part of the affair was, that the nest also contained the body of 

 the Finch, which aiDparcntly had been dead some weeks. 



To Messrs. Brittlebajik I am indebted for first-hand information 

 relating to many of the foster-parents of various Cuckoos. I was 

 present with them at one of our enjoyable outings at the Werribee 

 Gorge, 11th October, 1890, when we foimd the egg of a Narrow-billed 

 Cuckoo in the nest of the New Holland Honeyeater. During the 

 visit of the expedition of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 

 November, 1890, to the Kent Group, we discovered for the first time 

 the egg of the Narrow-billed Cuckoo in the nest of the Wliite-fronted 

 Sciiib Wren fSericoriiif! frontal in J.'^ 



As in the case of the other Bronze Cuckoo, two eggs of the Narrow- 

 billed are occasionally taken in one nest. Here is a curious note from 

 Mr. G. E. Shcj^hcrd. At Somerville, 1896, he twice took a Blue 

 Wren's nest containing a clutch of two eggs, together with a Narrow- 

 billed Bronze Cuckoo's egg, and on examination a second Cuckoo's egg 

 was found embedded in the grassy material of the nest. 



That Cuckoos sometimes deposit their eggs in the foster-bird's nest 

 before its consti-uction is complete is again illustrated by the fact, that, 

 after removing a pretty clutch of eggs from a Blue Wren's nest, I 

 discovered between the grassy folds of the nest the well-known, red 

 speckled egg of the Narrow-billed Cuckoo. 



Bcaiing on this point, I possess further evidence from Mr. Wm. P. 

 Best, Bi-anxholme, who wrote some time ago : — " I am of opinion that 

 occasionally the Broad-billed Bronze Cuckoo deposits its egg in the 

 Acanthiza's nest before that bird has laid its eggs, and that, when this 

 happens, the Acanthiza covers the strange egg with a thick layer of 

 feathers. I have found several Cuckoos' eggs thus covered with a 

 dense layer of feathers ; in every instance the lining of the nest has 

 been mucli in excess of what is usually found. It also seems to me 

 that the Cuckoo's egg hatches in somewhat less time than the other 

 eggs in the nest. I have been unable to verify tliis, however. What 

 I have noticed is, that in nests where a Cuckoo's egg is foiuid that egg 

 is always in a more forward state of incubation than the others, and 

 where I have foimd a young Cuckoo there have (or nearly) always been 

 eggs broken (not yoimg birds) under the nest." 



It will be observed that the eggs of the two little Bronze Cuckoos 

 fC plagosus and C. basalts) are totally dissimilar in colouring, not- 

 withstanding that the respective reputed parents are almost exactly 

 alike, both in colour and size. Both wear coats of glorious golden- 

 green. TIio Narrow-billed may be di.stingiiished, as its name implies, 

 by its slightly smaller and narrower liill, more mottled plumage 

 on the throat and chest — not so barred as in the other variety — and 

 by several (six) of the tail feathers being rufous or chestnut-coloured 



• S. gularis, Legge, Victorian Naturalist, 1896. 



