466 Letters, Extracts, Notices, fyc. 



which were hens), were placed in an open-air aviary, which 

 had a glass roof, so that the soil always remained dry and 

 sandy. The birds were fed with different kinds of seeds and 

 vegetables, of which last food they are very fond. 



" The first spring (1889) of their captivity the birds did 

 not lay any eggs, and in course of time three of the twelve 

 died, so that now (July 1890) only three females and six 

 males remain. At the end of May and beginning of June 

 the hens began to lay, and in all fourteen eggs were laid. 

 As the birds showed no inclination to breed, the eggs were 

 placed in an incubator, and after 28 days four chicks came 

 out. Two of these could not get out of the shell perfectly, 

 and died during the act. The other two came out well, but 

 died after two or three days, refusing to take any food. The 

 other ten eggs were bad or contained dead embryos. As a 

 general remark, I may add that the Syrrhaptes, in a wild 

 state, have completely left this country, as I suppose they 

 have done elsewhere in Western Europe/' 



[I may add to Mr. Blaauw's remarks that six specimens of 

 Syrrhaptes paradoxus, presented to the Zoological Society of 

 London in 1888 by various donors, and one received in 

 1889, are now all dead. — Ed.] 



A Tame Cuckoo*. — At the end of July 1889, being in 

 Suffolk, I was informed by the servants that a strange bird, 

 " like a Hawk/' had been seen at the pantry window, and 

 that it took raw meat chopped up small. I watched for the 

 bird and found a full-grown young Cuckoo, the chief object 

 of its visit being a bush of Pyr acanthus japonica, which was 

 covered with the larvae of Orgyia antiqua, the common 

 vapourer moth. In a day or two the bird had completely 

 cleared the bush, and then shifted its quarters to another 

 bush, similarly infested, on the other side of the house. 

 After clearing this it took up its abode in the front garden, 

 where it perched on the lawn-tennis stop-nets, which are hung 

 up round the lawn, and it occurred to me that I might iuduce 

 * From ' Laud and Water,' Aug. 17, 1889. 



