NOTES AND QUERIES. 245 
opinion, however, of several observant persons of my acquaintance, for the 
accuracy of whose observations I have the highest regard, that this note is 
common to both sexes; and one even tells me that, as with gun in hand he 
was once talking to a friend, a Cuckoo alighted upon a tree close by, and 
several times repeated its call: he was desired to shoot it, and did so; and 
a day or two afterwards his friend told him it was a pity he had shot it, for 
it had an egg almost ready to lay.” Blyth adds, “I give this upon 
unquestionable authority.” This seems positive evidence enough, and yet 
Prof. Newton, in the second volume of the 4th edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British 
Birds,’ referring to this very statement by Blyth, says (p. 890, note) that 
“it does not rest on his own observation, and he with others may be safely 
deemed to have been misled in the matter” (!). Prof. Newton himself says 
(on the same page) that female Cuckoos “have no loud and musical note 
to attract attention—one that they utter has been compared to the cry of 
the Dabchick, another (or perhaps the same) sounds to the writer not unlike 
the call-note of the Whimbrel.” [The call of the Dabchick and that of the 
Whimbrel are totally unlike; the first being a short sharp monosyllabic 
ery, and the other a rapid iteration of one note, which may be described as 
a melodious whistle——Ep.] My own observation leads me to believe that 
both sexes of the Cuckoo utter a variety of notes. On May 5th I sawa 
Cuckoo calling in a tree; in a few seconds it was joined by another, 
evidently a female from the attentions paid it by the first comer. The first 
one uttered a kind of cooing note, while the second uttered a note some- 
thing like the bark of a dog. As they were approached they flew off, the 
female uttering a note something like that of the Fieldfare, and both called 
while flying. Before they settled again they were pounced upon by a 
Rook, which stooped at them like a hawk.— Francis Heap (Lancing 
College, Shoreham). 
Young Cuckoo ejecting the Young of its Foster-parent from the 
Nest.—I can confirm the fact of the young Cuckoo ejecting the young of 
the species in whose nest it is fostered, alluded to by Mr. John Hancock 
(p. 203), a case having once come under my own observation, the particulars 
of which are as follow ;—Having found a young Cuckoo in the nest of a 
Hedge Accentor, from which the rightful owners had not long been ejected 
(for they were alive and warm), I determined to replace them, or at least 
one or two, but the usurper left very little room, appearing to very nearly 
fill the nest. However, I tried the experiment of returning one young 
Accentor to the side of the young Cuckoo; whereupon the latter began to 
make a fluttering or wriggling movement until it got under it, and finally 
forced it over the side of the nest. I repeated the experiment several times, 
not only with a young bird, but also placed pieces of dried earth, sticks, or 
any extraneous substance at hand, always with the same result. Upon 
attempting to remove the young intruder, it hung on to the lining at the 
