336 The Zoologist — August, 1866. 



too strong for the bill of the cuckoo to pierce, but here we have plain 

 evidence of the fact. I have frequently doubted if the cuckoo really 

 does suck eggs, and perhaps others may have shared this doubt; for 

 though I have often found egg-shells of blackbird, thrush, &c., in 

 places frequented by cuckoos, I have always failed in actually proving 

 the cuckoo the culprit. But the cuckoo does not stand alone in this 

 egg-destroying propensity, for besides several of the crow tribe, which 

 are well known to be adepts at it, some of the smaller birds, and 1 in- 

 cline to think quadrupeds, are depredators in this line. A pair of 

 robins built a nest and laid eggs in our garden this year, as did also a 

 blackbird ; in both these cases the eggs were destroyed by sparrows, 

 perhaps more out of a love of mischief than from a liking for their con- 

 tents. I also knew of a chaffinch's nest,built in a rustic porch, which was 

 demolished by sparrows, both nest and eggs, and the materials used in 

 the construction of their own nest. Frequently we find eggs of some 

 of the smaller birds pierced by a small bill (?), the contents gone, and 

 the shells left in the nest. Who is to bear the blame for this ? I think 

 not the cuckoo, for the holes are too small to have been made by a 

 cuckoo's bill. Now for the quadrupeds' charge : the wood and willow 

 warblers and the chiffchalf, which build on the ground, suffer most 

 from this source : the eggs are broken, — not merely sucked by means 

 of a small hole. — and the fragments generally left just outside of the 

 nest. Oftentimes the lining of the nest is scratched out. I have found 

 several nests served in this manner during the present season, and in 

 one case the feathers of the rightful owner (a willow warbler) lying 

 about, showing plainly that she had not escaped with her life. I cannot 

 help accusing mice in these instances. The only wonder is that, with 

 so many enemies, the poor birds keep up their ranks so well as 

 they do. 



Nests of Willow Warbler and Chiffcliaff. — These nests vary so 

 much in their construction that at times one gets puzzled to dis- 

 tinguish the nests of the two species, more especially as the eggs vary 

 considerably also. The nest of the chiffchaff is usually, but not 

 always, more profusely lined with feathers than that of the willow 

 warbler, the exterior being in most cases composed of the dry blades 

 of a broad thin grass, while the willow warbler's nest has generally 

 a portion of green moss in it, but I have found nests with the 

 exterior composed entirely of dry fern-leaves. The willow warbler's 

 eggs vary more than those of the chiffchaff, some being closely freckled 

 with minute spots of a light red colour, others sparingly dotted with 



