VOL. XIII.] OBSERVATIONS ON THE CUCKOO. 93 



The fact that the Cuckoo found every Meadow-Pipit's nest 

 which existed on the common during the period above named, 

 strongly supports my theory of last season that the Cuckoo 

 does not deposit her eggs in any haphazard fashion, but first 

 finds out, by the process of watching its dupes, the nests in 

 which to deposit its eggs, doing so on a subsequent visit. 

 This I was able to corroborate at Broadway, Worcestershire, 

 for on seeing a Cuckoo fly from a hedgerow at 7 p.m. on 

 Saturday, June 7th, I immediately found at the spot a Hedge- 

 Sparrow's nest containing five fresh eggs, whilst on returning 

 to the nest on the following Monday morning, I found, as 

 anticipated, that the Cuckoo had again visited the nest and 

 had replaced one of the Hedge-Sparrow's eggs with one of 

 its own. 



It should be clearly understood that, at the most, there 

 were not more than ten pairs of Meadow-Pipits nesting on 

 the common this year, two pairs of which had almost their 

 whole time occupied in tending their young, which were 

 either hatched or too far advanced in the process of incubation 

 before the first Cuckoo commenced to lay. Consequently, had 

 I not taken the first laid eggs of the Cuckoo, she would cer- 

 tainly not have had opportunity to lay such a large series, 

 at any rate in nests of the Meadow-Pipit. It will be agreed 

 that this tends to confirm my theory that the number of eggs 

 which any Cuckoo will lay in a season is dependent upon the 

 facilities afforded to her. If it is suggested that the Cuckoo 

 might have laid eggs additional to the eighteen above referred 

 to in nests other than those of the Meadow-Pipit, my reply 

 is that it is extremely unlikely, for the reason that I found 

 three other Cuckoos' eggs on or bordering the common in 

 nests of a Hedge-Sparrow, Pied Wagtail and Tree-Pipit 

 respectively, each entirely different from the other and all 

 absolutely different from the series of sixteen which I possess 

 of this year's laying and nine of last year's laying of the same 

 Cuckoo. 



The suggestion that the first eighteen eggs may have been 

 the product of two Cuckoos — closely related and conse- 

 quently laying similar eggs — cannot be seriously considered ; 



