210 Major R. F. Meiklejohn on the [This, 



I can only quote two instances from my own observations 

 which seem to throw any light on the subject : — 



(i.) In 1909 I was staying for three weeks, at the end of 

 May and in early June, in a locality in the Midlands where 

 Cuckoos were very plentiful. Early one morning I saw 

 from my "window two Cuckoos, clearly a male and a female, 

 settle on the bough of a high elm close by, and, shortly 

 a£ter, the female waddled down the bough to a fork in the 

 main stem, near the tree-top, and was lost to view in the 

 foliage. The male then flew off, calling repeatedly, but 

 the female remained some time before leaving. From the 

 behaviour of this pair 1 have a very strong suspicion that an 

 egg was laid in the tree-fork, and have always regretted that 

 I was unable to investigate this, though I am convinced 

 there was no nest of any other species near this fork. 



(ii.) About the same time (the second week in June) 

 I found a Sedge- Warbler's nest, which had been robbed, 

 and passing this again some five or six days later I found 

 to my surprise that it contained a Cuckoo's egg, and this 

 egg, which is in my collection, has a greenish discoloration 

 round the smaller end, exactly similar to that which occurs 

 when eggs are left lying for some time on damp moss or 

 grass. 



Now I think it is clearly unlikely that the Cuckoo 

 selected this nest before laying her egg, and though it 

 may be argued that the nest she had selected was destroyed, 

 my view is that, having laid her egg, she failed to find a 

 suitable nest, as the Sedge- Warblers were all sitting or had 

 young, and the Reed-Warblers had not commenced to lay, 

 and, not caring to leave her egg any longer, she deposited it 

 in this nest to take its chance. 



It is unfortunate that, as regards the periodat which the 

 nest is selected, there is no reliable information about the 

 Cow-birds, and though Major C. Bendire, of the United 

 States National Museum, holds the view^ that the nest is 

 chosen before the egg is laid, he apparently has no definite 

 reasons for this theory. 



