The Zoologist— Mav, 1873. 3529 



always to be seen some-where in its vicinity, so I concluded that an egg had 

 been deposited not far off. I searched the herbage very closely, and at last 

 found what had been so attractive to this summer-loving bird, viz. a nest of 

 the blackheaded bunting containing a cuckoo's egg and five of the rightful 

 owner's. Four of the bunting's eggs were of the usual colour and markings, 

 but the other was white, with a single small dark spot upon it. As they 

 lay in the nest I thought they were rather a motley group. On another 

 occasion I found a meadow pipit's nest containing six of its own eggs and 

 one of the cuckoo. My limited experience would point to the fact that 

 cuckoo's eggs are less variable than many other species as to colour and 

 marking, unless indeed their colour is so variable that they are often con- 

 founded with the species amongst which they are laid, for as a birds'-nestihg 

 schoolboy I was often surprised at the abundance of the cuckoo compared 

 with the number of its eggs found in a season; and provided that each 

 female lays more than one egg, which I believe is said to be the case, the 

 proportion seems still greater, as the birds always appeared to be ten to one 

 against the eggs. Probably an unskilful way of finding the egg is the, chief 

 cause of such apparent disparity, but I have noticed that the parent cuckoo 

 generally loiters about the spot where her egg is deposited, unless she has a 

 circuit, — spots in which she visits at intervals, — aid thus becomes a kind of 

 overseer of her scattered brood. I never found more than one cuckoo's egg 

 in the same nest, nor is it often that nests containing a cuckoo's egg are 

 placed very near to each other. Does the rightful owner of a nest court the 

 honour of rearing the young cuckoo, or does the parent cuckoo introduce 

 her egg into the nest stealthily during the absence of its builder ? If so, 

 why do we often see small birds mobbing a cuckoo ? Is it love or fear that 

 prompts the performance, as these smaller birds in hke manner tease rooks 

 and hawks ? That the cuckoo introduces her egg into the nest with her foot 

 or bill sometimes is, I think, unquestionable, as the pipit's nest before 

 adverted to was in such a situation, under a large tuft of heather, that no 

 cuckoo could possibly have laid in it, and I found the nest by the mere 

 chance of seeing the pipit come out, after nearly treading upon it. — G. B. 

 Corbin. 



Erratum. — In my short note, " Gray Phalarope and Pike" (S. S. 3492), 

 the first sentence of the paragraph should read, " The gray phalarope seems 

 to be comparatively rare along the Hampshire coast during this winter." — 

 G. B. a 



Woodcock at Clapton. — On the 2nd of April a woodcock flew against a 

 window in Claymore Road, Upper Clapton, and was taken up nearly dead. — 

 ' Field; April 19th. 



Dark Variety of the Common Suipe. — February 8th. To-day I procured 

 from our market a Scolopax galliuago whose whole chin, throat, and stomach 

 were of a dull slate-colour. — H. Duniford. 



