On the present State of the Systema Aviun. 399 
of the Spoonbill, as Heer van Dyk, the former lessee of the 
Horster Meer is dead, and the present occupant was absent ; 
but I would suggest to any ornithologist who may be in 
Holland in May or June that a week might be profitably 
spent in exploring the neighbourhood, where Bitterns, 
Savi’s Warbler, and other rarities will probably be found 
breeding. 
On our way home we spent a couple of days at Valkens- 
waard, a locality which, though formerly very rich in birds, 
seems to have recently deteriorated, owing to the numerous 
collectors who have been there. The only nest of special 
interest we procured was that of a Redstart, contaming a 
Cuckoo’s egg of unusual size and of exactly the same colour as 
that of the Redstart. _Hadit not been so much incubated that 
the foot of the young Cuckoo was plainly to be distinguished, 
the bird being alive, I could hardly have believed the egg 
to be genuine. Several similar eggs are in the collection of 
Herr Pralle, of Hanover, as Mr. Seebohm informs me, of 
which four were laid in one season, in the same locality, and 
all in Redstart’s nests. The fact that the Cuckoo does lay 
blue eggs can therefore be no longer disputed; and it is 
probably the case (as Dr. Baldamus asserts, see Ibis, 1865, 
p-. 178 e¢ seq.) that the same Cuckoo lays eggs of a similar 
colour. 
In concluding these hasty notes, I must express my hearty 
thanks to Mr. Benzon for the great kindness he showed us — 
during our stay in Denmark, and a hope that he may shortly 
be mduced to publish a paper in ‘ The Ibis’ on the birds of 
Denmark, which, as a record of many years’ experience, 
would be of permanent value to ornithologists. 
XL.—Remarks on the present State of the Systema Avium. 
By P. L. Scrarer. 
[Concluded from p. 350. ] 
4, CoccyGEs. 
THE remaining families of Nitzsch’s Picarize (i.e. the Coc- 
