266 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



120 yards away, and contained three Whitethroat's eggs. 

 I have no doubt but that these three Cuckoo's eggs had 

 been laid by one bird. If this be so, it strengthens the 

 idea that each female Cuckoo probably lays its eggs only 

 in the nests made by one species of bird. It seems prob- 

 able, too, that a Cuckoo reared in, say, a Whitethroat's 

 nest would by-and-bye lay its eggs in Whitethroat's 

 nests, and that Whitethroat's nests would be selected by 

 a sort of hereditary instinct. Dr. Baldwin, if I remember 

 correctly, thought that the Cuckoo when about to lay was 

 influenced by the colour of the eggs in the nest before it, 

 and that in consequence its eggs assimilated in colour 

 to those already laid by the owner of the nest. If there 

 be anything in such colour assimilation, would not the 

 fact I have above recorded suggest that it may in part 

 be due to gradual and hereditary infiueuce?" — A. B. 

 Farn, Dartford {Zoologist, 1885, p. 146). 



Mr. G. Dowker, in his Birds of East Kent, says : " The 

 Cuckoo is very numerous in my neighbourhood (Stour- 

 mouth). It freqaently makes use of the Hedge- Sparrow 

 to rear its young. I have met vi^ith it also in the Spotted 

 Flycatcher's, Keed- Warbler's and Pied Wagtail's nests. 

 I have often wondered if they return to their old haunts, 

 like some other migratory birds, and I fancy they do. I 

 have found them yearly in the same coppice soon after 

 their arrival. They are incessant in their song by night 

 as well as by day. It certainly carries its egg in the 

 beak, when depositing it in other birds' nests." 



In the Zoologist, 1895, Mr. Leonard S. Loat, of South- 

 borough, Tunbridge Wells, writes : " On May 28 I 

 found a Great AVhitethroat's nest containing two eggs 

 and one of a Cuckoo's. I took the Cuckoo's eg^. Going 

 again on the 31st, I found the Whitethroat had laid one 



