Vol. XVI 

 1916 



Dove, Cuckoo Notes Jrom Tasmania. 



97 



already in the nest — that is, we often found a nest with three eggs, 

 and on visiting it afterwards we would find one egg on the ground 

 and that of a Cuckoo in its place. It often happens that the 

 contents are cleaned out of the rejected egg and one half the shell 



Young Pallid Cuckoo (Cuculus pallidus) waiting to be 

 fed, Kelso, Tasmania. 



PHOTO. BY H. C. THOMPSON, R. A.O.I 



is placed in the other half. On one occasion, in the Gorge Creek, 

 Launceston, he found the nest of a Browntail {Acanthiza 

 diemenensis) containing both the Bronze and the Fan-tailed 

 Cuckoos' eggs. 



In December, 1913, a letter from Mr. Thompson contained the 

 following items : — " Cuckoos are very numerous this season. 

 Mr. Claridge took the nest of a Fire-tailed Finch {ZoncBginthus 

 bellus), with five eggs of the host and one of the Fan-tailed 

 Cuckoo. The long, funnel-like entrance to the nest was not 

 injured in any way, so we are inclined to think that the Cuckoo 

 laid her egg before the funnel was finished. On the same day 

 I found a nest of the Blue Wren ready for eggs ; on putting my 

 lingers in I felt something hard under the lining, and on working 

 this out it proved to be the egg of a Fan-tailed Cuckoo, which the 

 Wrens had built in." 



In a letter recently received from the same observer, some Kelso 



