The Cuckoo 305 



last-named bird with eggs like her own and laid at the 

 same time, but with her second egg she was not so success- 

 ful, and in despair she placed it in the first nest she could 

 find, which happened to be that of the Reed-Bunting. So 

 struck was I with this singular phenomenon, vouched for 

 by one of the best egg-collectors of the day, that I offered 

 him £10 to allow me to have the two nests for the British 

 Museum. Mr. Wharton, however, rightly considered them 

 to be one of the gems of his collection, and would not part 

 with them — a fact which we both had occasion afterwards 

 to regret, for he subsequently disposed of his entire series 

 of eggs to a gentleman in the South of England, and on the 

 very night of the arrival of the cabinets a fire took place in 

 the building, and the whole of the collection of eggs was 

 burnt to ashes, including, of course, the two clutches with the 

 wonderful Cuckoo's eggs, which had such an interest for me. 

 I can certainly vouch, from my own experience, that a 

 Cuckoo which places her egg in a Pied Wagtail's nest, de- 

 posits therein an egg which can scarcely be distinguished 

 from those laid by the Wagtail. Many times in my young 

 days have I seen the complement of Wagtail's eggs with 

 that of the Cuckoo differing but a trifle in its larger size 

 from those of the foster-parents. And as to blue eggs, 

 which appear to be the rarest of the types which the 

 Cuckoo lays, we have now evidence of their being deposited 

 in the nests of the Pied flycatcher (Ficedula atricapilld), 

 and of the Redstart (Ruticilla phcenicurd), both of which 

 lay blue eggs. To those who doubt the fact that a 

 Cuckoo ever lays a blue egg, the following proof may 

 be commended, and the actual clutch is in the Seebohm 

 Collection to this day. When Seebohm made an expedition 

 to Valkenswaard in Holland, with Mr. H. J. Elwes, a boy 

 brought in a nest of the Redstart with the usual complement 

 of blue eggs, one being rather larger than the others, and 

 this the lad declared to be a Cuckoo's. Not much notice 



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