96 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol ix, 



to some long grass where presently an excited little party of 

 Meadow-Pipits, Pied Wagtails, Wheatears and Sky-Larks 

 collected. To get a better view I crept to within a 

 dozen yards without disturbing the birds. At first the 

 Cuckoo seeiiu'(l to l)e only feeding, ])ut on noticing the 

 peculiar " shivering " actions of two of the Me1idow-Pi])its — • 

 quite unlike the fluttering and hovering flights of the other 

 birds — this at once convinced ine that their young Mere being 

 disturbed. On my jumping up the Cuckoo flew away 

 followed by all except the pair of Pi]iits, which kept near, 

 and on looking at the spot I found their nest empty, well 

 hidden in the slag and grass. About a foot away from the 

 nest, however, two nestlings were laid upon a flat piece of 

 slag, their necks broken, and blood oozing from their heads 

 and bodies as if they had been battered u]ion the piece of 

 slag. Another young one, evidently the last to be tackled 

 before my intervention, had dro]iped into a crevice close to 

 the nest and was just alive. This was replaced into the 

 nest, and I had to leave the place. On returning to the 

 scene of this little tragedy two days later this nestling also 

 lay dead upon the same piece of slag as the other two. so 

 it seems that the Cuckoo must have returned and finished 

 her work after I left on the 27th. C. E. Milbirn. 



[A very similar instance of young birds being apparently 

 killed by a Cuckoo is recorded by Mr. J. H. Gurney in the 

 Trans. Norfolk d- Norwich N^at. Soc, Vol. VI., pi. 4, pp. 374- 

 375, where references are given to other cases {cf. Zool., 1889. 

 p. 261).— F.C.R.J.] 



CUCKOOS' EGGS AND NESTLINGS IN 1915. 



Cuckoos seemed to be very plentiful in the Felsted district 

 in 1915. Although unable to spend much time searching 

 for eggs, I nevertheless saw thirty eggs and yoinig. The 

 fosterers victimized consisted in eighteen cases of Hedge- 

 Sparrows, Pied AVagtails in six cases. Sedge-Warblers in 

 five, and Robin in one. Seven of the eggs which I watched 

 were destroyed by mice, the Cuckoo's egg being eaten first 

 in each case, and several other eggs came to grief during 

 incubation. Out of eleven young only six survived the 

 nestling stage. 



One egg, found in a Hedge-Sparrow's nest at Little Leighs, 

 is worth a short notice. It was rather below the average 

 size, and lunisual in shape. In colour it was almost ])ure 

 while with a wcll-dclincil riii^' of small icddish-biow n s]iots 



