94 Romance of the Cuckoo. 



picking up the Cuckoo it laid an egg in his hand. This opinion 

 is borne out by a number of other naturalists which could be 

 recorded if necessary. 



The Cuckoo is the only bird in Britain which habitaully 

 lays its egg in the nests of other birds. Its egg has been found 

 in the nests of about 120 species of European birds, nearly a 

 hundred of which have been found in the nests of British 

 birds. The Titlark is the species in this district which the 

 cuckoo usually victimises. Other species are occasionally select- 

 ed, such as Whinchat, Tree Pipit, Twite, Ring Ouzel, Skylark, 

 and Hedge Sparrow. The eggs found in this district are nearly 

 all of one type, which approximate in size and colouration to 

 the Skylark, differing in usually being less broadly ovate, 

 and not so polished in appearance. Only two variations 

 from the type have been found by me, and these were 

 striking ; one found in the nest of a Titlark containing a 

 light variety, somewhat after the pattern of a Pied Wagtail. 

 In this nest two eggs of the Cuckoo were found, which closely 

 assimmilated to those of the Wagtail. Two years ago I found 

 an egg of the Cuckoo in the nest of a Hedge Sparrow, in Cotting- 

 ley Wood, which was quite blue. I feel quite certain that the 

 egg in question was the egg of a Cuckoo, since it was exactly 

 similar in shape, size and texture, and differed altogether from 

 the shape of the eggs in the nest of the Hedge Sparrow. I 

 gave it to my son Rosse, who has it at present in the Keighley 

 Museum. 



The egg of the Cuckoo is usually deposited in the nest of its 

 dupe before it commences to sit, frequently, I have found, when 

 about the third egg has been laid, and I have never yet known 

 a case where the Cuckoo's egg has been introduced without an 

 egg of its dupe having been abstracted. Sometimes it lays in 

 empty nests — even deserted nests — and sometimes in nests 

 before completion. One correspondent writes that he found 

 twelve eggs of the Cuckoo within the radius of a quarter of a 

 mile, nine of which, he believed, were laid by two birds (two 

 eggs in one nest), and five of the eggs were found in deserted 

 nests of the Titlark ; and another writer in The Countryside 

 for May 19th, 1906, states that every Cuckoo egg which he has 

 found has been laid before any of the rightful occupant's eggs 

 have been laid. 



Still another writer, Mr. Shirley Slocombe, in The Country- 

 side for September ist, 1906, states that in seven years he has 

 found no fewer than six Cuckoo's eggs in empty nests, two of 

 which were placed in the nests of the Reed Warbler, the others 

 in the nests of the Hedge Sparrow, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail 

 and Red-backed Shrike, and what is more remarkable, he further 

 says that the colouration of the Cuckoo's egg, in every instance, 

 ' was designed to match those of the owners of the respective 



Naturalist, 



