114 THE BIRDS OF OXFOEDSHIRE. 



that the graminivorous Linnet is incapable of rearing" the 

 young oi" the insectivorous Cuckoo, notwithstanding what 

 has been stated by some naturalists to the contrary. A 

 Cuckoo was observed by Mr. Harcourt to visit a Pied 

 WagtaiFs nest, built in the creepers on the balcony near the 

 window of the chief drawing-room, and a Cuckooes egg was 

 subsequently found in the nest. Four days later the nest was 

 deserted. The Cuckooes egg was then put into the nest of a 

 Linnet containing five fresh eggs, two of which were removed 

 to make room for it. In thirteen days both the yomig 

 Linnets and the Cuckoo were hatched. By the third day after, 

 the former were all expelled from the nest, and, on being 

 replaced, were expelled again. At the end of a week, how- 

 ever, the young Cuckoo died, apparently of starvation, and 

 the old Linnets ' perched mournfully on a rail, as if perplexed 

 by the miscarriage of their matrimonial arrangements.'' A 

 young Greenfinch, of the same age as the former occupants, 

 was then placed in the nest, and was successfully reared by 

 the Linnets. (\ 



THE HOOPOE. ; ^^ 



UpiiiM epops. 

 The Hoopoe is a rare summer migrant to this country, and 

 has occurred several times in Oxfordshire. First recorded as 

 a British bird by Merrett in 1667, one of the earliest notices 

 of it in this country is given by Dr. Plot, who, ten years later, 

 wrote — ' Other Birds there are here that are but rarely seen, yet 

 breed in this Country, and are continually with us, and there- 

 fore to be numbered amongst those we call perennial. Such 

 are the UjnijM, the Hoopoe, or Hooping-bird ; whereof I saw 

 one alive on Otmoor, and another w^as given to me for the 

 Repository of the Bodleyan Library (killed somewhere about 

 Cassenton) by one Mr. Painter, Alderman of Woodstock. 

 A bird it is to admiration beautiful, being curiously deck'd 

 with feathers of divers colours, and with a large crest on its 

 head, as it is exquisitely engraven both by Dr. Charleton and 



