VOL. XV.] ANOTHER CUCKOO RECORD. 183 



betray the nest of her intended victim by cirding round its 

 vicinity several times, " bubbling " all the while. As soon 

 as she commences this, she is joined by her males and they 

 all fly off again together just as they do after the deposition 

 of an egg. It is seldom that I have been disappointed in 

 visiting a suitable nest after having seen her there previousty. 

 When this Cuckoo was about to lay her egg she would drop 

 into the marsh grass some ten to twenty feet from the nest 

 of her intended victim. She would remain there for roughly 

 twenty minutes and she was always accompanied bv her one 

 or two males. I must emphasize this as it is not always the 

 case, some females acting entirely upon their own responsi- 

 bility in such matters. Upon rising from the grass she 

 would betray no signs of her egg, but that she carried it to 

 the nest in her bill I have no doubt, as one could readily see 

 in almost every instance where she had stood on the edge 

 of the nest to deposit her egg, as the side of the nest upon 

 which she stood was weighed down upon the two reeds support- 

 ing it. Some nests are suspended on three reeds but the 

 majority have four, and it is these the Cuckoo more often 

 chooses for the deposit of its egg. The young Cuckoo will 

 be safer between four supports and it is almost impossible 

 for him to come to grief by falling overboard, although his 

 bed is so very small as compared with his dimensions. He 

 has two reeds on either side of him to which his bed is firmly 

 laced and he can only come to grief either by moving backwards 

 or forwards. 



I made a systematic practice of visiting my nests at least 

 twice a day, ver}^ often thrice daily, especially when my 

 Cuckoo made breaks in her laying. These were very anxious 

 times as one could not safely say whether an egg had 

 been missed. I am sure, however, that all her eggs have 

 been located and it was not until May 26th that she had any 

 choice at all. Previous to this date there was never more 

 than one Reed-Warbler's nest ready for her use, but after 

 this date she always had nests available — and consequently 

 her irregular laying is the more interesting and once again 

 demonstrates the individuality of birds. I understand 

 that Mr. Chance created facilities for his Cuckoo by removing 

 the eggs of the fosterparents as soon as the Cuckoo's egg was 

 deposited. Further, I believe he removed all eggs laid by 

 his nine pairs of Meadow-Pipits whether they contained a 

 Cuckoo's egg or not. In view of this I resolved to let my 

 Reed-Warblers carry on in a natural way and instead of 

 causing them to desert when I removed the Cuckoo's egg 



