VOL. VII.] NOTES. 231 



clutch of eggs had been laid earher in the season, and that 

 no birds of this species had been noticed in the locality in 

 former years. A. C. Smith's Birds of Wiltshire contains no 

 reference to the breeding of the Dipper in the county, but 

 Mr. G. B. Hony informs me that the Wilts. Arch, dh Nat. 

 Hist. Magazine, Vol. 33, contains a note on the nesting of 

 the Dipper at Castle Combe, near the Gloucester border 

 and about seven miles to the north-west of the present 

 locality in direct line. T. C. R. Jourdain. 



RING-OUZEL AS FOSTER-PARENT OF CUCKOO. 



With regard to the above subject {antea, p. 175), it may 

 be of interest to record that I found the egg of a Cuckoo 

 in a Ring-Ouzel's nest on June 25th, 1899, on Stow HiU, 

 not far from Brampton Bryan, but within the Shropshire 

 boundary. The nest also contained two Ring-Ouzel's eggs 

 and a newly-hatched young one. F. L. Blathwayt. 



CUCKOO DEPOSITING EGG AMONG 

 INCUBATED EGGS. 



With reference to Mr. J. H. Owen's note on this subject 

 {antea, p. 54), two similar incidents came under my notice 

 during 1912. In Surrey, on May 11th, I discovered a fresh 

 egg of the Cuckoo in the nest of a Meadow-Pipit. The 

 three eggs of the foster-parent were so highly incubated 

 that feathers had developed in the embryo, but by the 

 condition of the eggs I judged they had been forsaken 

 some time. At Ashford, Kent, on May 31st, I found a 

 fresh egg of a Cuckoo among five of the Robin. The young 

 birds in the eggs of the foster-parent were again almost 

 fully developed and must have hatched a day or two later. 

 My experience has been that the Cuckoo deposits its 

 egg in a nest at a time when those of the foster-parent 

 number one to three, but seldom when there are more. 

 When the egg is deposited among incubated eggs of the 

 foster-parent, the Cuckoo may perhaps have been unable 

 to find another nest. H. R. Tutt. 



COURTING HABITS OF THE CUCKOO. 

 On April 23rd, 1913, I spent some time watching a female 

 Cuckoo {Cuculus c. canorus) which was sitting in a conspicuous 

 position on a post which formed part of a fence round the 

 top of a long-disused quarry. In due course a cock-bird 

 made his appearance, not without giving due warning, and 

 quickly " spotting " the hen settled at her side. He remained 

 there only for a moment or two, thereafter making frequent 



