266 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
now pretty well established, that the Cuckoo does 
not lay its egg in the nest of another bird, but places 
it there afterwards, would alone, I think, be sufficient 
to upset that theory—to say nothing of the fact that 
the Cuckoo’s eggs vary but little, and are not the 
least like the eggs of many of the birds in whose 
nest it is known to depositthem. That the Cuckoo 
places its egg in the nest of other birds with its beak 
is, I think, sufficiently proved by the fact that many 
of the nests chosen are either themselves of such a 
nature, or usually placed in such a position, as to 
preclude the possibility of the Cuckoo laying its own 
egg in the nest; for instance, the nest of the Red- 
start is usually placed in a hole either in a tree or a 
wall, the entrance to which is much too small for the 
Cuckoo; the nest of the Reed Warbler, which is not 
unfrequently chosen, is a domed structure, with only 
a hole left for the entrance of the owners, and this 
of course is much too small for the entrance of so 
large a bird as the Cuckoo—to say nothing of the 
impossibility of its accommodating itself to the narrow 
dimensions of the nest inside. Besides there are 
many instances on record of the female Cuckoo 
being shot with one of her own eggs in her mouth, 
one of which I quote from Mr. Newman’s edition of 
Montagu’s Dictionary :—“ My curiosity,” said the 
person who contributed this note, “was excited by 
seeing a Cuckoo fly over my head with something in 
its mouth, with which it alighted in a neighbouring 
