]80 Mr. G. D. Rowley on certain Facts h 



Lanius collurio. 

 Sylvia nisoria. 

 Luscinia luscinia. 

 Hypolais vulgaris. 

 Phyllopneuste rufa. 

 Calamoherpe turdina. 



phragmitis. 



Regulus flavicapillus. 



Anthus arboreus. 

 Alauda cristata. 



arborea. 



Emberiza miliaria. 



schoeniclus. 



Loxia chloris. 

 Linota cannabina. 

 Saxicola stapazina. 



In addition to this list, I may also quote the evidence afforded 

 by a nest of the Brambling {Fringilla montifringilla) , received by 

 me from Archangel, which contained five eggs of that bird, and 

 one of the Cuckoo*. 



Out of nests of the thirty -seven species mentioned above. Dr. 

 Baldamus says he has obtained about one hundred eggs, collected 

 by himself and his friends, so that he has " plenty of material," 

 He then proceeds to give descriptions of these specimens ; and the 

 most astounding among them is that of a supposed Cuckoo's e^^, 

 found in the nest of Accentor modularis, without the usual spots 

 of the former, but of a " fine blue-green colour." Now, I ven- 

 ture to ask, what proof exists, or can exist, other than the hatch- 

 ing of the egg, to convince an oologist that it was a veritable 

 Cuckoo's ? Was it not rather a monstrous variety of that of the 

 Accentor ? I have at this moment before me a sitting of five 

 fresh eggs of Salicaria arundinacea, taken near the river Ouse, in 

 Huntingdonshire, on the 10th of June 1864, by my father's 



* The list of species which foster the Cuckoo might, we believe, be 

 very much further extended. Without pretending to give an "exhaustive " 

 list, we can add to those noticed above, on fair authority. Passer domes- 

 ticus. Pallas (Zoogr. R.-Asiat. vol. i. p. 481) mentions Cyanecida suecica ; 

 Yarrell, Anthus ohscurus, Fringilla ccelehs, and Turdus merula ; Mr. Hewit- 

 son, in his last edition, Locustella ncevia (Bodd.); while M. des Murs, 

 in his great work (Oologie Ornithologique, p. 219), includes Parus major, 

 Anthus cervinus (apparently, since he calls it " Pipit Rousseline", by mis- 

 take for A. rufescens sive campestris, already mentioned by Thienemann), 

 Acanthis linaria, Pyrrhula rubicilla, Garrulus glandarius, Turdus musicus, 

 a Pica, a Turtur, and a Palumbus, all among the birds to which the educa- 

 tion of young Cuckoos is occasionally entrusted. We can entirely confirm 

 Mr. Rowley's statement of Cuckoos' eggs being found in nests of Fringilla 

 montifringilla, nearly half a dozen instances of such an occurrence being 

 known to us. — Ed. 



