156 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vi. 



from the ground and about eight feet from the water. It : 



contained three eggs (fresh) and one Cuckoo's egg of the , 



light Sedge-Warbler type. Robert P. Wild. | 



[Only five instances appear to have been definitely recorded 



hitherto in which the Marsh-Warbler has been adopted as [ 



the foster-parent of the Cuckoo. The localities are remarkably j 



widely distributed, but probably in each case the normal ; 



foster-parent was the Reed-Warbler. The counties from j 



which it has been recorded are Oxfordshire (W. Warde ; 



Fowler), Worcestershire (P. F. Bunyard), Buckingham- | 



shire (G. W. Kerr and E. Pettitt), and Cambridgeshire I 



(W. Farren).— F.C.R.J.] ] 



The Rock -Pipit {Anthus spinoktta obscurus) is one of the rarer i 



foster-parents of the Cuckoo [Cuculus c. canorus), and only I 



about five instances appear to be recorded in which the egg I 



or young of the Cuckoo has been found in the nest of this ' 

 species. In the Birds of Yorkshire, Vol. I., p. 135, it is stated 



that there is only one recorded instance in which the Rock- , 



Pipit has acted as fosterer to the Cuckoo in Yorkshire, ; 



viz. near Scarborough in 1881. It is interesting to note j 

 that a Rock-Pipit's nest found by Mr. J. Morley on May 18th, 

 1912, near Scarborough, contained in addition to five eggs 

 of the Pipit, a single Cuckoo's egg. The entrance to this 

 nest was so narrow that the Cuckoo's egg must have been 



inserted by the bill, and probably this circumstance also | 



. prevented the removal of one of the fosterer's eggs. ' 



F. C. R. JOURDAIN. j 



NIGHT HERON IN CHESHIRE. ; 



On July 31st, 1912, I saw an adult Night-Heron [Nycticorax \ 



n. nycticorax) at Marbury Mere, near Northwich. The j 

 bird, when I first noticed it, was standing on a dead branch 

 overhanging the water, on a small evergreen -covered island 



■close to the edge of the mere, and its yellow legs and greyish- | 



white breast and under-parts showed up very conspicuously \ 

 against the dark background formed by the evergreens. I 



distinctly saw the white forehead and eye-stripe, but as the I 

 bird was facing me I was unable to see any plumes, nor could 



I discern any wheii T afterwards saw the bird for a few seconds I 

 on the wing. When disturbed, it flew round a short distance, 



disappearing among some trees bordering the mere, and I | 

 had not time to search further for it. When on the wing, 



however, the black of the top of the head and the back, and | 

 the grey wings and tail, left no doubt as to the species. I 



did not hear the bird utter any note. J. Moore, j 



