INSESSORES. 119 



seen as many as three male Cuckoos following a 

 female." 



Mr. W. H. Power writes me word that he once 

 saw as many as ten Cuckoos on the wing at once, 

 and on another occasion disturbed even a greater 

 number from a plantation where they were congre- 

 gating in June. He thinks it not unusual to find 

 Cuckoos in small flocks. The fact of this bird 

 singing at night I apprehend is now too well known 

 to require any comment. I have frequently heard a 

 Cuckoo as late as 11 o'clock, p.m. 



Mr. Timbs says : * *' The Cuckoo begins to sing 

 early in the season, with the interval of a minor 

 third ; the bird then proceeds to a major third, next 

 to a fourth, then a fifth, after which his voice breaks 

 without attaining a minor sixth. The Cuckoo may 

 be said to have done much for musical science, be- 

 cause from this bird has been derived the minor 

 scale, the origin of which has puzzled so many ; the 

 Cuckoo's couplet being the minor third sung down- 

 wards." 



My friend Mr. Bond has kindly furnished me 

 with the following list of nests in which he has 

 known a Cuckoo's egg to have been found ; and 

 with regard to those to which an asterisk is pre- 

 fixed, I am able to corroborate him from my own 

 observations. 



• i 



Things Not Generally Known. 



