BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 41 



barred with white for some distance on their inner 

 webs. Tail-quills greyish-black, especially the 

 middle feathers, tipped with white, and marked 

 with white spots. Chin, throat, and upper breast 

 pale ash-grey ; lower breast, belly, vent, and under 

 tail-coverts white, marked with wavy, transverse bars 

 of black ; the two last parts often have a reddish- 

 brown tinge. Legs, toes, and claws yellow. 



The female is very similar in appearance to the 

 male, but a little smaller in size. 



Situation and Locality. Deposits generally a 

 single egg in the nest of the Meadow Pipit, Pied 

 Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Hedge Sparrow, Sedge 

 Warbler, White-throat, Robin, Yellow Hammer, 

 Jay, and Martin, although the last two must be 

 rarely patronised. 



Our illustration is from a photograph of a Pied 

 Wagtail's nest, containing a Cuckoo's egg, which 

 could only be distinguished by its greater size and 

 shape and, on being blown, its thicker shell. The 

 nest was situated about nine feet from the ground, 

 amongst ivy growing over a high garden wall. A 

 common summer visitor to all parts of the British 

 Isles. I have noticed that in the more elevated 

 parts of the North of England, Meadow Pipits rear 

 more young Cuckoos than all the other foster- 

 parents put together. 



Materials. None. 



-Eggs. It is certain that the bird lays more 

 than one egg ; but although naturalists of good 

 repute have mentioned the number as five, and 

 others have been of opinion that even a larger 

 number may be laid, there is, so far as I know, 

 no reliable evidence to support either supposition. 

 I have never noticed that young cuckoos exceeded 

 in numbers the old ones, in a given district, where 



