1917-] Letters, Exiracts, and Notes. 633 



Mathews, G. M. The Birds of Australia. (Vol. \\. pt. 5. London, 



1917.) 

 White, S. A. The Crui:'e of the ' Avocet.' (Adelaide, 1917.) 

 The Auk. (Vol. xxxiv. No. 3. Cambridge, Mass., 1917.) 

 Austral Avian Record. (Vol. iii. No. 4. London, 1917.) 

 Avicultural Magazine. (Third Series, Vol. viii. Nos. 9-11. London, 



1917.) 

 Belfast Naturalists' Field Club. Annual Report and Proceedings. 



(Series II. Vol. vii. pt. iv. Belfast, 1917.) 

 Bird-Lore. (Vol. xix. Nos. 3, 4. NeAV York, 1917.) 

 Bird Notes. (New Series, Vol. viii. Nos. 6-8. Ashbourne, 1917.) 

 British Birds. (Vol. xi. Nos. 2-4. London, 1917.) 

 The Condor. (Vol. xix. Nos. 3, 4. Hollywood, Cal., 1917.) 

 The Emu. (Vol. xvi. pts. 2, 4; Vol. xvii. pt. 1. Melbourne, 1917.) 

 The Irish Naturalist. (Vol. xxvi. Nos. 7-9. Dublin, 1917.) 

 Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. (Vol. xxiv. No. o ; 



XXV. No. 1. Bombay, 1917.) 

 Journal of the Natural History Society of Siam. (Vol. ii. No. 3. 



Bangkok, 1917.) 

 Messager Ornithologique. (1917, No, 2. Moscow, 1917.) 

 Revue Franfaise d'Ornithologie. (Nos. 98-101. Orleans, 1917.) 

 South Australian Ornithologist. (Vol. iii. pt. 3. Adelaide, 1917.) 



XXXIV. — Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



Breeding-habits of the Cuckoo. 



Sir, — Major Meiklejohn^s paper on the breeding-habits 

 of the Cuckoo has been prepared under such disadvantages, 

 that it seems an ungracious task to criticise it, but as 

 you have already published several communications on the 

 sul)ject, may I be permitted to offer a few remarks ? 



In the first place, although Dr. Key's work is exhaus- 

 tively analysed, the important papers by V. Capek (Ornith. 

 Jahrbuch, 1896, pp. 41, 103, 146, and 165) are apparently 

 unknown to the writer, and this fact alone renders Major 

 Meiklejohn''s resume of the whole subject imperfect. He 

 has also overlooked the articles on the Cuckoo by Mr. F. 

 B. Kirkman and myself which appeared in the 'British 

 Bird Book.^ This I venture to think renders his list of 

 fosterers (p. 22.2) unrepresentative of the present state 



