VOL. XIV.] OBSERVATIONS ON A CUCKOO. 229 



Shrikes to destroy their eggs after I had examined their nest, 

 and other evidence of a similar nature could be adduced. It 

 will perhaps be asked why, if granted that a fosterer will 

 herself take away an egg, she should not remove them all. 

 The seeming solution is that having learnt by experience 

 that the attention of the Cuckoo eventually means the loss 

 of her eggs, the fosterer, annoyed at the preference shown her, 

 expresses it by removing one of her eggs, perhaps intending 

 to take them all away. But the action of removing the first 

 one appeases her resentment, and she ceases to trouble about 

 the others. All practical ornithologists are aware of the 

 immense variety of temperament displayed by individuals 

 of the same species, and it should be noted that both the 

 cases of presumed egg-removal by the fosterer remarked 

 upon in this paper occurred with No. 5 pair, and in no other 

 case was any egg removed except by the Cuckoo, and then 

 only at the time of deposition. 



On the morning of the 27th it was considered certain that 

 the Cuckoo had not laid again since the 22nd, she and the 

 common having been ver}' closely watched during this period. 

 There was, however, still hope that she would place another 

 egg in the deserted nest of No. 5 pair, seeing that she had 

 displayed so much interest in it, and this being the only avail- 

 able Meadow-Pipit's nest on the common. 



I placed in this nest four fresh eggs of another Meadow- 

 Pipit brought from some miles away. The day's observations 

 yielded nothing very definite and the setting in of a heavy 

 downpour induced us to leave the common at tea-time. 



On the 28th at i p.m. I went straight to the deserted nest 

 of No. 5 pair, prepared to watch it for the rest of the day, and 

 to my gratification found the 21st egg of the Cuckoo with 

 three of the substituted Meadow-Pipit's eggs. All the eggs 

 were wet. As there had been no rain this morning it was 

 obvious that the Cuckoo must have laid soon after we left 

 the common yesterday, and removed one of the substituted 



After this date no more Cuckoos were either seen or heard 

 about the common, and so two pairs of Meadow-Pipits duly 

 hatched and reared their broods. 



I shall be happy to show this unique series of twenty-one 

 eggs in one season from one Cuckoo to an}' ornithologist 

 interested, together with the twenty-five taken from the 

 same Cuckoo in the two previous years. It is likely to stand 

 as a record for a considerable time to come, for it will be 

 difficult again to meet with a combination of circumstances so 



