42 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



I was out of doors all day long, every day in the 

 year, and many years together, in unhroken suc- 

 cession. But, of course, the number hatched could 

 never represent the number laid, although the place 

 to which I refer was singularly free from vermin 

 and collectors. A single egg is found in the nest 

 of a foster-parent, but occasionally two have been 

 seen, and in very rare instances even three ; but 

 it is, of course, impossible to say whether they 

 were laid by the same bird. The egg of the 

 Cuckoo is small in size compared with its layer, 

 and varies very much in coloration, but, strangely 

 enough, often harmonises closely with those of 

 the bird in whose nest it is deposited. It is usually 

 reddish-grey, mottled and spotted closely, with 

 darker markings of the same colour, or pale greyish- 

 green, marked with spots of the same colour. 

 Size about -87 by *75 in. 



Time. — April, May, and June. 



Bemarls. — Migratory, arriving in April and 

 leaving in July, the young ones in August and 

 September. Notes : song, cticJwo, and a churring 

 note. Local and other names : Gowk, Common 

 Cuckoo. The young Cuckoo turns out all the 

 other members of the nest in which it is hatched, 

 an operation to whicli I was witness on one 

 occasion. 



CURLEW, COMMON. 



Description of Pai-ent Birds. — Length varying 

 from twenty-one to twenty-two inches. Bill very 

 long, slender, curved downwards, and dark-brown, 

 paler at the base of the under mandible. Irides 

 hazel. Head, neck, upper part of back, scapulars, 

 and wing-coverts pale brown, with a dark brown 



