Vol. VI. 



1Q07 



1 Mattingley, Some Notes on the Cuckoo. 127 



A. J. Campbell), and has some connection with the mysterious 

 habit that young Cuckoos have of ejecting eggs and young birds 

 from the nest. Both eggs in this instance were fresh, and had 

 evidently been laid by the same Cuckoo, since they v/ere 

 almost identical in size, shape, and colour. There were no 

 other eggs in the nest. One is naturally led to inquire whether 

 the same Cuckoo laid both eggs ? If it did, then the 

 Cuckoo must be unaware of the ejective habit of its own species, 

 since it would have known that one egg or its equivalent, 

 a young bird, must ultimately be destroyed by being ejected by 

 the first young Cuckoo hatched out. Then, again, were it two 

 different Cuckoos that placed the eggs in the nest, the bird that 

 deposited the last one should (according to some observers) have 

 " instinctively " known that it was simply " love's labour lost " 

 for it to deposit its &gg there ; otherwise the Cuckoo must be 

 ignorant of the type of Qgg its own species lays. In the same 

 district, on the day previous to my finding the two Cuckoos' eggs 

 in one nest, Mr, J. Ross and myself observed what was probably a 

 Fan-tailed Cuckoo {Cacoviantis fiabellifonnis) at the entrance to 

 the nest of a Blue Wren [Malurus cyaneus). We were making our 

 way along a creek bed, when suddenly we heard a great commo- 

 tion amongst some Blue Wrens, Crescent Honey-eaters, and other 

 birds. The noise made by the different birds which had combined 

 with the Blue Wrens in vociferously expostulating with some 

 other bird or animal in their vicinity was so pronounced 

 that we hastened to ascertain the cause of so much excite- 

 ment. On arriving at the spot we observed the complaining 

 Blue Wrens fluttering excitedly around their nest, which was 

 attached to the branch of a fallen limb, about 4 inches from 

 the ground. It was dusk, and the light uncertain, otherwise 

 we might have observed an interesting development of the 

 Cuckoo's habits which would probably have helped slightly to 

 lift the veil that shrouds this bird's breeding habits. Our 

 attention was directed to the nest by the Blue Wrens, which 

 flitted angrily about it. The cause of the excitement of the 

 Wrens was not apparent, so my companion proceeded to 

 investigate the nest, when — whirr-r-r-r — up flew a Cuckoo from 

 the ground at the entrance to the nest and made off through the 

 scrub. We were indeed sadly disappointed owing to the failing 

 light preventing us observing the Cuckoo before we had disturbed 

 it. Search around and in the nest did not reveal any Cuckoo's 

 ^gg- What was the Cuckoo doing at the nest ? Was it spying out 

 the best nest in which to deposit its ^gg } Or was the Cuckoo 

 in the very act of laying its egg ? On the same day I found the 

 ^^Z of the Pallid Cuckoo {Cuculus pallidus) in the tiny nest 

 of the Spine-bill {AcanthorhyncJius tenuirostris) — a nest about 

 five or six times too small for the young Cuckoo, which 



