BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 99 



eggs being similar in colour to those of the Cuckoo 

 about to be palmed off upon them. The only Cuckoos' 

 eggs I saw were a few in the Museum, and in one or 

 two other small collections : all these were very 

 much the same, and what appears to me the usual 

 type of Cuckoo's egg, a dull greyish ground much 

 spotted with brown, and a few small black marks 

 much like many eggs of the Tree or Meadow Pipit. 

 It is hardly the place here to discuss the question 

 how far Cuckoos select the nest of the birds whose 

 eggs are similar to their own, to deposit their eggs 

 in, or whether a Cuckoo hatched and reared by one 

 foster-parent would be likely to select the nest of 

 the same species to deposit its own eggs in ; the 

 whole matter has been very fully discussed in 

 several publications, both English and German ; 

 and Mr. Dresser has given a very full resume of the 

 various arguments in his ' Birds of Europe ' ; and 

 whilst fully admitting the great variation in the 

 colour of the Cuckoos' eggs, he does not seem to 

 think that any particular care is taken by the 

 parent Cuckoo to select foster-parents whose eggs 

 are similar in colour to its own ; and the instances 

 cited seem to bear out this opinion, with which, as 

 far as my small experience goes, I quite agree. 



Whilst on the subject of Cuckoos I may mention, 

 for the information of such of my Guernsey readers 

 who are not ornithologists, and therefore not well 

 acquainted with the fact, the peculiar state of 



