CUCKOO NOTES 



MOST people know that the " cuckoo lays 

 its eggs in another bird's nest." 



The few will say that the cuckoo does 

 nothing of the sort, that she will lay her 

 egg on the ground somewhere, and then 

 carry it either by beak or foot to the selected 

 nest, deposit it there, and fly away. They 

 will say (once I said the same thing) that 

 " it never actually lays in another nest." 

 They are wrong, in one case, at any 

 rate. 



This spring a hedge sparrow built its 

 nest in the rough edge of a pile of faggots. 

 In the course of time four pale blue eggs 

 appeared, and one morning very early a 

 large bird flew down to it. She must have 

 remained there for some time, for as I strolled 

 past when the sun was just rising above 



the hills she flew off the nest. I knew by 

 1 60 



