VOL. XIII. ] OBSERVATIONS ON THE CUCKOO. 91 



I was disappointed in my hope of having the good fortune 

 to see the Cuckoo carrjdng one of its eggs to the nest of one 

 of its victims, wishing to confirm the view that the Cuckoo 

 deposits its eggs in the foster-parents' nest with its bill and 

 not with its claw. 



It would take too long, and would probabl}^ not be of 

 sufficient interest, to describe in detail my study of this 

 particular Cuckoo this season, but the following facts seem 

 to be worthy of record. 



Between May i8th and July 5th there were found by 

 myself and others (I myself always being present) no less than 

 eighteen nests of the Meadow-Pipit on the common, from 

 sixteen of which I took (and possess) an egg laid by the same 

 Cuckoo, and in each of the other two nests an egg of the same 

 Cuckoo was hatched, the two young Cuckoos in due course 

 flying and being identified for the rest of their lives with 

 " Witherby " rings. As already stated, the first egg of this 

 series of eighteen was found and probably also deposited 

 on May i8th. The last egg found I took from the nest on 

 July 5th, about two days before it would have hatched. If, 

 as I reckon, this egg was deposited about June 24th, then 

 it was the last of the series of eighteen actually laid, and it 

 would appear that the whole series was laid as nearly as may 

 be calculated at intervals of an egg every forty-eight hours. 



It is a distinctly interesting fact that from the time the nest 

 containing the first Cuckoo's egg was found, every Meadow- 

 Pipit's nest found on the common contained an egg laid 

 by the same Cuckoo, whereas not one of the many Sky-Larks 

 and other species, whose nests were found on and surrounding 

 the common, was victimized by this Cuckoo. 



It is perhaps also worthy of note that the first, seventh 

 and tenth eggs this season belonging to this Cuckoo, were 

 found in nests containing no egg of the foster-parents. The 

 first was exchanged for an egg of another Meadow-Pipit 

 (one of those I had taken from the two incubated clutches 

 on May nth). From the behaviour of the birds when the 

 nest was found it was not deserted, but as the Meadow-Pipit 

 did not subsequently lay an egg in the nest she evidently 



