216 Major R. F. Meiklejolm on the [Ibis, 



"birds, tlie majority of wl)ich are polygamous, the males are 

 said to outnumber the females by three to one, possil)ly for 

 this reason, and the laying season is thought to last two 

 months, but I know of no data to suggest that in the 

 Cuckoos the males are more numerous than the females. 



Dr. Rnfs remaining Canclusions. 



As regards Dr. Rey's remaining conclusions, there seera 

 no special grounds for comment. It may, I think, be 

 accepted from his data and general information that each 

 Cuckoo deposits its eggs in a restricted locality and pro- 

 bably returns to the vicinity in which it was itself reared,, 

 and the data given regarding the female which laid abnormal 

 eggs seem to establish this, and also the fact that each 

 Cuckoo, whenever possible, selects nests of the same species, 

 the two exceptious in the ease of the above-mentioned female 

 being the last eggs found on the 26th of June, 1889, and the 

 12th of June, 1890, when [)resumably no such nests were 

 available. 



Also, as stated in conclusions 12 and 13, it is quite the 

 exception to find more than one Cuckoo's egg in any nest, 

 and Dr. Key states that, out of 1246 clutches with Cuckoos' 

 eggs reported to him only 49 had two eggs. In one case 

 three eggs were found in the nest of a Robin and in another 

 case three in the deserted nest of a Wagtail, but in both 

 cases the eggs were of quite different types, and clearly laid 

 by different females. 



An exceptional case, however, is quoted from Thuringia, 

 where a Red-backed Shrike's nest found on the 18th of May, 

 1891, contained two eggs of this bird in it and two of the 

 Cuckoo, and as the latter were practically identical in colour, 

 markings, and size, and also, together with another egg 

 found on the 2oth of May, were deformed in shape owing 

 to some peculiarity in the female, there is no doubt that 

 they were laid by the same bird. Such cases, however, are 

 very rare, and seem clearly due to a shortage of suitable 

 nests in the locality in question. 



