OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. 179 



Dr. Rey, in Nature, remarks that such an example is a sign 

 of the colonizing instinct, and upon his theory, these eggs 

 being differently marked and with various colour density, they 

 belong to different females. The theory is said to have been 

 exploded.* 



Bronze Cuckoo's eggs have been found in the nests of 22 

 species of birds, and at the present moment there is the 

 interesting point to be settled whether the insect-eating 

 Diamond-bird {Pardalotus assimilis) is not also a foster- 

 parent. It is not usual to place an egg 12 inches down a 

 hollow ; for how would the young Cuckoo turn out the 

 proper young of the nest ? This interesting question will 

 need time and observation to settle. Yet the Cuckoos' eggs 

 have been found in an equally unpropitious situation — viz., in 

 the nest of the Tree-creeper at the bottom of a hollow 

 trunk. 



The foster-parents are all insectivorous birds with one 

 exception- -Red-browed Finch — but as this species feeds its 

 young on soft insects during the season, for practical purposes 

 it might be classed among the insect-eaters. Robins, Wrens, 

 Chats, Tree-runners, and Tits (chiefly the last) pilot the egg 

 and young through their early stages. 



Recently, in Victoria as well as in England, photographs 

 have been made of a young Cuckoo in the act of expelhng 

 the other young by placing its shoulders under each and 

 lifting them overboard one at a time. 



In three birds obtained in the same number of months of 

 1897 I noticed the following differences : — {a) March: a large 

 proportion of brown in the plumage. Presumably this is a 

 \QTY young bird. (6) August : the wings coverts tipped with 

 brown have disappeared, and the barred markings of the 



* See Emu, vol. vi., part 2. "Parasitical Habits in the Cuciilidge, 

 C. L. Barrett. 



