98 BIRDS OF GUERNSF.Y. 



islands, in all of which they are equally plentiful ; 

 they seem to cross from one to the other without 

 much considering four or five miles of sea, or 

 being the least particular as to taking the shortest 

 passage across from island to island. As usual, there 

 were a great number of Cuckoos in the Vale whilst 

 I was there this summer (1878) ; but I w^as un- 

 fortunate in not finding eggs, and in not seeing any of 

 the foster-parents feeding their over-grown proteges : 

 this was rather surprising, as there were so many 

 Cuckoos about, and many must have been hatched 

 and out of the nest long before w^e left at the end of 

 July. I should think, however, Tree and Meadow 

 Pipits, Skylarks and Stonechats, from their numbers 

 and the numbers of their nests, must be the 

 foster-parents most usually selected ; other favom-- 

 ites, such as Wagtails, Hedgesparrow^s, and Eobins, 

 being comparatively scarce in that part of the Island, 

 and Wheaters, which were numerous, had their nests 

 too far under large stones to give the Cuckoo an 

 opportunity of depositing her eggs there. I should 

 have been very glad if I could have made a good col- 

 lection of Cuckoos' eggs in the Channel Islands, and, 

 knowing how common the bird was, I fuUy expected 

 to do so, but I was disappointed, and consequently 

 unable to throw any light on the subject of the 

 variation in the colour of Cuckoos' eggs, as far as 

 the Channel Islands are concerned, or how far the 

 foster-parents had been selected with a view to their 



