266 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



now pretty well established, that the Cuckoo does 



not lay its egg in the nest of another bird, but places 



it there afterwards, would alone, I think, be sufficient 



to upset that theory to say. nothing of the fact that 



the Cuckoo's eggs vary but little, and are not the 



least like the eggs of many of the birds in whose 



nest it is known to deposit them. That the Cuckoo 



places its egg in the nest of other birds with its beak 



is, I think, sufficiently proved by the fact that many 



of the nests chosen are either themselves of such a 



nature, or usually placed in such a position, as to 



preclude the possibility of the Cuckoo laying its own 



egg in the nest ; ; for instance, the nest of the Eed- 



start is usually placed in a hole either in a tree or a 



wall, the entrance to which is much too small for the 



Cuckoo ; the nest of the Eeed Warbler, which is not 



unfrequently chosen, is a domed structure, with only 



a hole left for the entrance of the owners, and this 



of course is much too small for the entrance of so 



large a bird as the Cuckoo to say nothing of the 



impossibility of its accommodating itself to the narrow 



dimensions of the nest inside. Besides there are 



many instances on record of the female Cuckoo 



being shot with one of her own eggs in her mouth, 



one of which I quote from Mr. Newman's edition of 



Montagu's Dictionary: "My curiosity," said the 



person who contributed this note, " was excited by 



seeing a Cuckoo fly over my head with something in 



its mouth, with which it alighted in a neighbouring 



