of Italy and Spain. 401 



former ground at Aranjuez to take up with his Manuel and the 

 faithful AgapOj aforetime mentioned in 'The Ibis' (1866, p. 183). 

 Before leaving Seville I paid a visit to Jerez, and, through the 

 kindness of a friend, became the possessor of several valuable 

 eggs, notably some of Phoinicopterus 7-oseus. 



On arriving at Aranjuez I found that Manuel de la Torre was 

 away in the Guadarrama collecting eggs of Vultur cinereus ; 

 but after a few hours Agapo turned up, and we at once went 

 out after Great Spotted Cuckoo [Oxylophus glandarius), \Yhic\i 

 is far more abundant here than it is in the Cotos, depositing its 

 eggs as there, in nests of Pica melanoleuca. The largest number 

 I ever found in one nest was six j and in one nest four eggs, in 

 others one or two was the number. Although I never actually 

 saw the Cuckoo deposit its egg, yet I saw one fly past me which 

 I feel sure had something like an egg in its gullet ; from the 

 side of another nest I saw the Cuckoo go oflF, leaving a broken 

 IMagpie's egg at the foot of the tree, and in the nest an egg of 

 her own wet with yelk. As we came up, her bead was in the 

 nest ; and she fairly backed out, which she would never have 

 done if it were her habit to lay her egg in the nest as ordinary 

 birds do, in which case her head would have been looking out- 

 wards. It seems to me pretty positive proof that the Cuckoo 

 flew to the Magpie's nest with her own egg in her mouth, deposited 

 it there, took out an egg of the Magpie's, crushed it with her 

 bill, and, dropping the fragments outside, returned to arrange 

 her own egg comfortably in the place now vacant. If not, why 

 does it constantly, I may say generally, happen that the Cuckoo's 

 egg is smeared with yelk whilst the remaining Magpie's eggs 

 are as constantly clean ? I also noticed that when a Cuckoo 

 was near, the Magpies could hardly be induced to leave their 

 nests, whereas at other times there was no hesitation on their 

 part. Any one who could give a week's attention to this point 

 could easily settle it by the aid of a good binocular glass, as the 

 Magpies' nests are visible from a long distance, and the mode of 

 deposit adopted by the Cuckoo could be easily distinguished. 



Although I had already obtained eggs of the Booted Eagle 

 near Seville, it had scarcely begun breeding near Aranjuez; and 

 on the 1st of May I was obliged to continue my journey north- 



