TfiE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 7t 



dead bough of the highest tree and wails its melancholy 

 note until those of each bar in the ascent become thoroughly 

 accelerendo. 



Everyone living beyond seven miles of the city hears the 

 Pallid Cuckoo in its first burst of " song " in September, but it 

 is apparently dead to the world of men by February. The 

 little birds begin to lead a lively life on arrival of these nomads, 

 for, being parasitic, objections are raised. In the case of the 

 Pallid species, nests of birds building open nests are chosen ; 

 while the other four species are distributors of their honours to 

 those of side entrances, as well as open cups. The Fantail and 

 two Bronze species choose 75 per cent, of dome-shaped nests ; 

 while the Square-tailed species is content with 50 per cent., and 

 the remaining half of open nests. Because Tits are so 

 thoroughly insectivorous and obliging, they act in the majority 

 of cases as foster-parents. Tlie mature cuckoo is supposed to 

 be the only bird* that eats hairy caterpillars, and probably the 

 only insectivorous one that lays twenty eggs, so that there should 

 be plenty of cuckoos to combat the larvae. 



The date of arrival of the C. pallidus was, according to my 

 notes, ist September in 1896, 12th August in 1897, and 20th 

 August in 1898. These cuckoos start to call at daybreak (5 

 o'clock), and the Bronze disturbs the peace in the hours just 

 previous to midnight. 



The Yellow Robin {Eopsaltria Australis, Lath.), I find is also 

 a foster parent of the Pallid species, and I use this opportunity 

 to supplement the lists of Mr. A. J. Campbell bearing on the 

 cuckoo hosts, and published in this and the last volumes 

 of the Victorian Naturalist. Mr. G. A. Keartland supplied the 

 information for the Turquoise Wren, and three friends about the 

 Xerophila. 



The Yellow Robin's nest was quite in the open, with two eggs 

 of the host (9/11/94). Eggs of Chalcococcyx plagosus, Lath., 

 Bronze Cuckoo, found in nests of — introduced Goldfinch, 

 Frinyilla carduelis (21/11/94); Little Grass Warbler, Cisticola 

 exilis, V. and H. ; Yellow-faced Honey-eater, Ptilotis chrysops, 

 Lath. ; and Turquoise Warbler, Malurus callainus, Gld. Eggs 

 of Chalcococcyx basalis, Hors., Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoo, 

 found in nests of — Little Ground Tit, Chthonicola sagittata, Lath. ; 

 Xerophila, Xerophila leucopsis, Gld. Eggs of Cuculus pallidas, 

 Lath., Pallid Cuckoo, found in nest of Yellow-breasted Robin, 

 Eopsaltria Australis, Lath. 



While glancing at the " Natural History of the World," I find 

 Pliny talks of cuckoos laying eggs in the nests of Stock-doves. 

 It would be a sorry action if done in the nest of a grain-eating 

 bird here. Wordsworth's reference to Stock-doves' nests, " not 



* Lydekker (" Roy. Nat. Mist.," p. 5), 



