BIRDS OF THE PEAK 127 



Concerninp the breeding:: liabits, the friendship and 

 very one-sided partnership between these two species, 

 Mr. Salt informed me tliat all the cuckoos' eggs he had 

 found in fifty-five years, during which he had been ob- 

 serving the birds of the district, were in meadow pipits' 

 nests. Nor had he ever seen a young cuckoo being 

 tended by the numerous other species supposed to be its 

 foster parents — warblers, wagtails, chats, the robin, 

 redstart, dunnock and wren. Furthermore, he had dis- 

 cussed this subject with numbers of persons living in 

 the district, and their experience agreed with his. ?Iis 

 conclusion was that the meadow pipit was the only dupe 

 of the cuckoo, in spite of what was said in the books. 

 The conclusion was wrong, but his facts may be right 

 with regard to this particular district. Doubtless, if this 

 be so, there must be eggs laid from time to time in the 

 nests of other species, but in the long run the instinct 

 of parasitism on dunnock or wagtail or some other 

 species would be swamped by that of the majority of 

 cuckoos, all parasites on the meadow pipit exclusively. 



Of all the small musical sounds emitted by birds on 

 moors and other lonely places I think I love the aerial 

 tinkle of the pipit best, unless it be the warble of the 

 whinchat heard in the same situations. Few persons 

 appear to know the whinchat's song, yet it may be heard 

 every day from April to July all over the country 

 wherever the bird has its haunts. The main thing is to 

 know a sound when you hear it. This chat is a shy 

 singer as well as an inconspicuous bird, and as a rule 

 becomes silent when approached. One hears a delicious 



