VOL. XIV.] OBSERVATIONS ON A CUCKOO. 225 



manner of doubt, to the operations of the Kestrel with a 

 brood in the vicinity. Having foreseen the difficulty of 

 finding out what the Cuckoo would do under these circum- 

 stances, I had sent an urgent message to P. B. Smyth, of 

 Wanstead, London, asking him to come down and help. He, 

 the two Simmonds, and I took up positions at 1.30, and 

 between us we had a fairly comprehensive view of the whole 

 common. After various manoeuvres during the course of 

 the afternoon the Cuckoo soon after 4.15 settled in a cherry 

 tree facing a nest of a Tree-Pipit (Anlhus trivialis) which 

 we had previously found, and which contained five fresh 

 eggs earlier in the day. At 6.30 the Cuckoo was heard 

 " bubbling " as she usually did immediately after the depo- 

 sition of an egg, to which call the male or males invariably 

 responded, and was then seen to fly away into the forest. 

 Disappointed at what seemed like a blank day, we yet 

 thought it might be just as well to look into the Tree-Pipit's 

 nest. To our intense surprise and relief it now contained 

 four eggs and the 15th of the Cuckoo. It transpired that 

 the Cuckoo must have gone to the nest between 6 and 6.30, 

 eluding the observation of that member of the party who had 

 been deputed to watch the tree in which she had been last 

 seen to settle. 



i6th Egg. 



June 12th. — On this day the watchers were O. R. Owen, 

 P. B. Smyth, the two Simmonds and myself. We were 

 without definite knowledge of any Meadow-Pipit's nest and 

 so, distributing ourselves about the common, relied upon the 

 superior information of the Cuckoo. I might add that there 

 were nests of Skj^-Lark [Alauda arvensis) and Tree-Pipit in 

 suitable condition. 



Before lunch, the Cuckoo settled in a tree commanding a 

 view of No. I pair of Meadow-Pipits, the nest of which she 

 was probably locating as she was seen to fly to it three days 

 later and made use of it three days later still. 



At 2.10 she settled down in the top boughs of a tall pear 

 tree. There she sat so silently and still that, experience 

 having taught us that this motionless and at the same time 

 alert attitude is the prelude to laying, we all from different 

 angles concentrated our attention upon her. She remained 

 M'ithout movement for nearly two and a half hours. Then, 

 just after 4.30, she glided down to a point about 40 yards 

 away, and immediately returned without alighting. Within 

 five minutes of her original flight she once again floated down 

 to the same spot and settling there for not longer than thirty 



