Preface. xi 



My book was finished and partly printed before 

 the news of this achievement reached me ; but I 

 have made room for the leading facts which settle so 

 much that was in dispute before, and some passages 

 which might have disappeared or been remodelled 

 had I had these facts sooner before me, are so far 

 explained in the light of this statement. 



These photographs — the whole series or any one 

 of them — may be procured from Mr. J. Peat- Millar, 

 Braehead, Beith, Scotland, at a moderate price, and 

 doubtless there are many ornithologists and students 

 of natural history who would be glad to procure 

 them. 



Since this book was printed, Mr. Dewar has fur- 

 nished us with another testimony to ejection of young 

 by the cuckoo-nestling : 



" A friend tells me that he saw a young cuckoo, 

 after much exertion, turn out some young hedge- 

 sparrows. When he replaced one of the birds in the 

 nest, it was again ejected by the cuckoo." '" 



I have also heartily to thank Mr. J. H. Gurney for 

 the use of two illustrations, and for other aid readily 

 given. 



ALEXANDER H. JAPP. 



* Wild Life in Hampshire Highlands, p. 88. 



