78 Mr. W, C. Hewitson on Recent Discoveries 



tenements of Pica mauritanica and Athene meridionalis. In this 

 view I am borne out by my companions Mr. O. Salvin and 

 Mr. W. H. Simpson. We all devoted much time and care to 

 the solution of this Cuckoo's habits, and never found it laying 

 its eggs in a nest already occupied. 



" On one occasion one of our Arabs came and told me he had 

 found a nest of the ' Burroo Burroo ' (its local name) in the 

 forest. I accompanied him to the spot. The male bird took 

 flight from a branch of an adjoining tree ; and in the top of a 

 gnarled old terebinth, where a branch had at some period been 

 rent from the trunk and formed a cavity, I espied a nest like 

 that of the little owl (certainly not that of a magpie), and pro- 

 truding therefrom the long tail-feathers of my friend. She flew 

 screaming ofi', and I found left two eggs, set rather hard. On 

 another occasion a nest of four eggs, fresh, was brought us. We 

 found but this one nest of four eggs, one of three, two nests of 

 two each, and two of one each. I have been somewhat prolix 

 on this question because our experience is so different from 

 that of Dr. Brehm. A friend has suggested that perhaps the 

 Cuckoo, before depositing her eggs, ejects those of the rightful 

 occupant. 



" It is fair to add, that on unpacking our collections some 

 months after, it was found that a few days before discovering 

 the Great Spotted Cuckoo's nest we had placed two of its eggs 

 along with two undoubtedly those of Pica mauritanica, and la- 

 beled them as being all of the latter bird, and of one nest. 

 These four eggs appear by our notes to have been brought va 

 by our Arabs, and it is quite possible they may have placed the 

 eggs of two nests, which they took to be of the same species, 

 together, to save themselves trouble in bringing them home ; and 

 that we, who did not value the magpie's eggs, had stowed them 

 away without any particular observation. 



" C. glandarius has three notes : a call-note something like 

 that of C. canorus, probably used by the male; its cry of alarm, 

 something between that of the Jay and the Roller; and its third 

 note, ' Wurree Wurree,' from which it doubtless derives its 

 Arab name, just as the common Cuckoo is called by them 



' Tookook: " 



