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“Mrs. Noble told me this morning that a Wagtail had built a nest 
in our dining-room balcony; on going thither I found the nest in a 
corner quite exposed, with three eggs in it, one much larger than 
the others; the two smaller ones were of a greenish colour with 
minute spots, the larger of a deeper green and more largely blotched. 
Can this be a Cuckoo’s? ” 
On Sunday, May the 21st, I saw this nest with four young birds, 
three lying by the side of the nest, from which they had evidently 
been but recently thrown, as they were plump and fresh.  Al- 
lowing, therefore, that the Wagtail had laid a third egg on the 
5th of May, and thirteen or fourteen days for the hatching of 
these birds, they must have been ejected in about three days 
after exclusion. On the 31st of the same month Mr. Noble again 
wrote :—‘‘ The Cuckoo is nearly fledged ; he rises in the nest in the 
most hideous way, extending his neck like a serpent.” 
Were we in possession of similar positive evidence of the means 
by which the Cuckoo’s egg is deposited in the dome-shaped nest of 
the Wren, and in those of other birds, as we now have of those in 
which the young of the foster-parents are ejected, the history of the 
breeding-habits of this remarkable bird would be complete. 
Genus OxyLopuus. 
There are several species of this genus, which inhabit Africa, 
India, and some of the islands to the southward. They are, I be- 
lieve, all parasitic, laying their eggs in the nests of Crows, Magpies, 
and other large birds. 
QOL OxyropHusiGhANDARTUS sek se cae Viol die eI aNelexe 
GREAT Sporren Cuckoo. 
Two individuals of this species having been killed in our islands, 
one in Ireland and another in Northumberland, it becomes necessary 
to figure it in the present work. Respecting this latter example, I re- 
ceived the following note from Lord Ravensworth, Dee. 5, 1871 :— 
«You will no doubt be interested to hear that a specimen of the 
Great Spotted Cuckoo was shot last summer, in July or August, upon 
the moors at Hesleyside, the noted seat of W. H. Charlton, Esq., on 
the banks of the North Tyne. It has been preserved, but unluckily 
is indifferently set up.” The Rev. H. B. Tristram informs me that 
he handled this bird in the flesh before it had been skinned. 
In Southern Europe this bird is plentiful during summer, and in 
North Africa it is to be seen at all times. Even the rapacious 
Hooded Crow does not disdain to become the foster-parent of the 
young of this species. 
Genus Coccyzus. 
Composed of a limited number of species, all American, of which 
two have been killed in our islands. 
