fA(;<iM wi'is. 9 



trees towering' overhead. All at unce the l„rd. hum which I had niomentardv taken my ga/e 

 had myster.ously disappeared fro.n si-ht. (ioin- <luwn on my hands and knees 1 Hushed the 

 bn-d, and discovered a small tunnel four inches m length under the leaves, and leadin- to the 

 entrance of the nest of a .SVnV,,,-,,/. fr..uiaUs , removing the leaves, I found a recently hatched 

 young Cuckoo, not probably more than twelve hours old, lying dead just outside the entrance, 

 and most hkely. judging by itssi.e and the nun,ber of species in the neighbourhood. Lamprococcvx 

 hasahs. 1 o hnd out what had been the cause of this early termination of its e.xistence, the inside 

 ot the nest was exan.ined, and I drew forth a p,nk and grey soft pulpy mass, with eyes yet 

 unopened, and probably not more than a few h.u.s older than its nest mate, which it had ejected" 

 but ,t was consKierably larger and stronger, and when fully fledged, a young Fan-tailed Cuckoo 

 left the nest. How two species of Cuckoos managed to discover so well concealed a nest bein<. 

 entirely covered with leaves, I know not, except like myself by watching the actions of the 

 owner. A false step of a foot on one side of the track, by either man or horse, would ha^•e 

 crushed the nest and contents. Upon the Streaked Warbler {Chthonuola sa„ttata), another 

 ground trequentm.; species, often devolves the duty of hatching the egg and rearing the youn.^ 

 of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo. Undoubtedly A,anthr:a tnsil/a is the commonest foster parent ol 

 Cacomantn flahclhfonms near Sydney, and next to that species the Rock Warbler. Of tlie many 

 nests of .1/./.;... examined, I have never found it in that of the commonest species, Maturus 

 anslm/is, and only once in that of .1/. Aiiiihni/. 



From Adela.de, South Australia, Dr. A. M. Morgan writes me as follows --"It is a 

 remarkable thing that Cmo,,,anfi, /].,hMfon,ns doe. not lay in South XustraUa, and Ca.lus p.Uidns 

 only rarely. Lmupnuoay.v p!.,.„sns and L. /,.,s„/,\ lay freely. I have never found, or heard of 

 anyone hnding, a Cuckoo's egg in the neighbourhood of Laura. The late Mr. M. Murray who 

 collected there for many years, told me he had also never found, or heard of one, m that district 

 though tour species C..//./W/,/.™,s,C. A,//./... L. ph,,„sns and L. basalis were common in thj 

 spring, and .1/. osnihnms was occasionally found. 1 have always considered it the usual thin- 

 to hnd a short clutch when a Cuckoo's egg was present in the nest, at least that is my experience 

 with C. palluiu., L. pia^osu, and L. Imal,,. I ha^•e often wondered whether the Cuckoo 

 destroyed or ate an egg, or whether the female of the host laid one short. A single example of 

 Cacomautisflabcllifonms remained about a garden at Laura throushout the winter'of iS.,3, and I 

 was given a dead bird shot in the same locality in April of the same year. These were'the only 

 two seen by me in that district. They pass through the Adelaide district in considerable 

 numbers about the end of May and early part of June, on the way eastward. They do not lay 

 here, nor have I ever seen them on their way back." 



Mr. G. A. Keartland sends me the following note from Melbourne relative to this species :-- 

 "Whilst the Pallid Cuckoo usually selects open nests in which to lay its eggs, which it does by 

 sitting on the nest in the usual way, the Fantail Cuckoos' eggs and young are more often found 

 in the covered nest of Acautlma pusilla. Whenever this is the case the entrance is somewhat 

 enlarged, and by the time the young Cuckoo is ready to fly, the opening is still further increased 

 in size, and the head of the bird projects. My impression is that the Cuckoo lays its egg on the 

 ground, and carries it in its bill to the nest of the future foster parent, as on two occasions I 

 found broken eggs in the mouths of birds I shot." 



Mr. A. V. B. Hull informs me that Mr. O. Clifford took an egg of this species at Windsor, 

 New South Wales, on the 7th (Jctober, lyoj. from a nest of Chihnucola s,i^ittafa, which also 

 contained two fresh eggs of the latter bird ; and of another found in the nest of Accu/Inza p„sHh,. 

 at Freshwater, near Manly, on the 3rd August, igoS, which also contained a fresh egg of thj 

 rightful owner of the nest, but who eventually abandoned the latter owing to heavy rain? 



From Abbotsford, near Melbourne, Mr. J. Gabriel sends me the following note :—" I found 

 the egg of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo in the nest of the Yellow-breasted Thickhead (Pachyccphala 



