358 Mr. Gordon Dai<gijesh,


respective clutches of eggs, in every case of which the Cuckoo's

egg (had it not been for its slightly larger size) could scarcely

have been distinguished from those of the intended foster

parents, even such details as the delicate pencilling seen on the

eggs of Chaffinch, Goldfinch and others being closely imitated."


Though matching its eggs so well, Cuckoo's eggs found

in Hedge Sparrows' nests (one of its commonest victims) are

seldom blue, and one theory to account for this is that the

Cuckoo during the course of evolution has only recently been

attracted to this bird, and as time goes on, the eggs will event-

ually always be blue.


Blue would appear to be the rarest colour of a Cuckoo's

egg. The British Museum possesses four authenticated specimens

and these are all except one, Continental, and were all taken

from the nests of the Redstart. Butler figures a blue egg in his

" Birds' Eggs of the British Isles," and I find a note of another in

the Coimtryside, Vol. II., No. 27, which says : — " In the case of a

Cuckoo's egg taken here this year, the bird had evidently solved

the problem of imitating colour as it was exactly the same shade

as the Hedge Sparrows' in whose nest it was placed." Eggs I

have seen taken from a Robin's nest in almost the identical spot

for three seasons running were a bluish green, faintly speckled

with brown, and I have been told that this type is the usual one

found in Hedge Sparrow's nests, but I have seen too few to form

any opinion, and to me these eggs appeared like a bluish variety

of the Robins. In Europe the list of a Cuckoo's victims have

been enumerated at 146. Among its commonest victims in

Britain are : — Hedge Sparrow, Robin, Reed Warbler, Meadow

Pipit, Garden Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Pied Wagtail. From

a large series of Cuckoo's eggs, 373 in number, 74 of these were

foisted on the Hedge Sparrow (Countiyside, Vol. II., No. 27).

The rarest victims selected are : — Blackbird, Swallow, Song

Thrush, Bullfinch, Chaffinch and Nightingale. Mr. T. Hope,

writing to the Countryside^ o\. III., No. 61, says : — " On May 4th,

we saw two young Blackbirds dead on the ground. On looking

into the nest we found a Cuckoo's egg resembling a Blackbird's."

Mr. L. B. Mouritz fi?i lit) says a Cuckoo's egg was found in the

nest of a Sonar-Thrush in Richmond Park. This was given on



