128 Mattingley, Some Notes on the Cuckoo. [,^j "j",„_ 



would, ere it had reached its adult sizie, more than likely have 

 been thrown out of the tiny nest as it swayed about on the top 

 of a tall tea-tree {Leptospennuin scopariuni). Why do Cuckoos 

 place or lay their eggs in nests that are too small for their full- 

 grown young? Since writing the foregoing, on 2ist October, 

 1906, I visited the nest of the Blue Wren again, but there 

 was only a clutch of Wren's eggs in the nest. During the 

 same day we found the nest of a Sericornis or Scrub- Wren 

 in which was imprisoned (if one may use such a term) a large 

 young Fan-tailed Cuckoo, The Sericornis nest was situated but a 

 few inches above the water in the overhanging bank of a creek. 

 Such a position must necessarily have been somewhat difficult 

 of access to the parent Cuckoo. The opening of the nest was 

 far too small for the Cuckoo to enter and lay its Q%^. The bird 

 must therefore have used its beak to get the ^^g into the nest, 

 an act which in this case must have been awkward for the 

 Cuckoo, since the bird would have found it necessary, when 

 placing her ftg% in the nest, to fly directly on to the nest, mean- 

 while supporting herself by an unsteady clutching of the nest 

 with her feet. But does the female Cuckoo deposit the Qgg, or 

 is it the male that deposits the egg with its beak .'' The Seri- 

 cornis' nest in question was completely hidden from view, and 

 the Cuckoo must have found out its whereabouts by observing 

 the Scrub- Wrens coming and going as they proceeded with the 

 architecture of their nest, just as we observed them before real- 

 ising that a nest was there. The more notes that we can collate 

 on these points, the sooner will we have some tangible evidence, 

 some material basis, some established facts about the Cuckoo, 

 and then we can relegate hypothesis to its proper sphere of 

 usefulness. 



Stray Feathers. 



Strange Nesting Place. — I took a nest of the Black 

 Duck, containing nine fresh eggs, last week out of an old nest 

 of the Eaglehawk.— SEr. Robinson. Bathurst, 26/9/06. 



* * * 



A White Emu. — Mr. A. C. Le Souef, of the Sydney Zoolo- 

 gical Gardens, draws attention to a letter he has discovered, dated 

 Warialda, N.S.W., 3rd December, 1887, in which a white Emu 

 is offered for sale to the society. It was about 2]/^ months old 

 and stood 3 feet high. No record is given of its purchase. 



* * * 



Bee-eaters in Southern Victoria. — I have to report 

 that three pairs of Merops ornatus appeared in this district 

 during the first week in November. They have taken up their 

 abode on a road cutting through a sandy rise, and their tunnel- 



