( 180 ) 

 ANOTHER CUCKOO RECORD. 



BY 



GEO. J. SCHOLEY. 



It was in mid- June 1919 when I first made the acquaintance 

 of a female Cuckoo {CitcuUts c. canorus) which laid no fewer 

 than nineteen eggs this year with Reed-Warblers {Acrocep/ialus 

 scirpaceus) as fosterers, by the discovery of a fresh type of egg 

 deposited in a Reed-Warbler's nest in the main ditch of my 

 hunting ground. Another Cuckoo had hitherto occupied this 

 " territory," laying eight eggs in 1918, and seven in 1919 up to 

 the i6th June, when my present bird arrived upon the scene 

 and apparently drove her off, as I was not able to trace her 

 subsequently. 



The old bird was a very shy creature, most irregular in 

 her habits, but well able to deposit her eggs safety in the 

 most cunning places on the marshes. In strange contrast 

 to my present one, she was never faithful to one particular 

 fosterer ; in fact, the seven eggs she laid in 1919 were 

 deposited one each with Meadow-Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, 

 Yellow Bunting, Sedge-Warbler and the remaining three 

 with Reed- War bier, the last named being apparently her 

 natural fosterer. All these nests were on the confines of 

 the marshes well within the bounds of her own territory. 

 My present bird, who laid six eggs in 1919, sixteen in 1920, 

 and nineteen in 192 1, proved faithful to the Reed-Warbler 

 throughout, and it is to her behaviour that I would refer, 

 if only to deal with those points which concern her marvellous 

 regularity as compared with many other Cuckoos I have 

 from time to time had under observation. The locality 

 used by this Cuckoo is an isolated rectangular ditch containing 

 patches of reeds interspersed with tall hawthorns, sallows, 

 brambles, etc. These bushes split the main circle of reeds 

 into small beds, each of which is occupied by one pair of 

 Reed- Warblers. I very seldom find two pairs of Reed- 

 Warblers using the same small cluster of reeds. In anticipa- 

 tion of the return of my Cuckoo this year for the third time, 

 I made an inspection of the marshes on May 12th, when I 

 could only find three nests in course of construction. The 

 condition of the reeds at this time was so poor that they 

 hardly afforded any cover whatever. However, I was 

 certain from previous knowledge of the Cuckoo that she 

 took advantage of practically all the early nests, so on the 

 13th I made another inspection but could find nothing 

 further than the three nests mentioned, one of which had 



