BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 221 



parasitic habits which resemble in a general way those 

 of the typical Cuckoo. 



A week or so after the male Cuckoos have announced 

 their spring amval to the countryside, careful observation 

 will detect the arrival of the females. These are only 

 slightly different in plumage and quite similar in size to 

 the males ; but they lack the familiar note, having in its 

 place a low, bubbling cry. They are much less numerous 

 as well as less noticeable than the males, for the species 

 is markedly polyandrous. 



Two or three weeks after her arrival the female 

 Cuckoo begins to lay. The eggs, as every one knows, 

 are ultimately deposited in the nests of other birds ; but 

 the exact procedure is still to some extent a matter of 

 doubt. Direct laying would in most cases be impractic- 

 able, and the usual, if not the only, method is to lay on 

 the ground near the nest, and then to transfer the egg 

 to the nest with the beak. A Cuckoo has been more than 

 once recorded as flying with an egg in its beak. In 

 that case, however, the bird might have been disturbed 

 before she had time to place the egg in the nest, or she 

 might have had to lay before a nest was found, or was 

 reached, if the position is chosen long in advance, as 

 there is some reason to believe is the case. Or perhaps 

 the egg was one of the foster-parent's, for the female 

 Cuckoo often removes an egg or two of the original 

 clutch when depositing her own in the nest. 



The Meadow-Pipit, the Hedgesparrow, and the Pied 

 Wagtail are common victims ; other birds related to 

 these, and various Warblers and Buntings, are also fre- 

 quently chosen. In all, over a hundred species have been 

 recorded as having been selected as foster-parents ; but 

 many of the cases are so absurd as to be obviously 

 exceptional, while many other species are not common 



