PARSONS— Cuckoo Eggs in Blue Wren's Nest. 145 



Cuckoo Eggs in Blue Wren's Nest. 



(By F. E. Parsons, E.A.O.U.) 



At Middleton on October 5th, 1917, I found a nest of the 

 Blue Wren (Malurus cyaneus leggei) containing three eggs, one 

 of which was very faintly marked with fine spots, and at first 

 I took it to be an egg of the bronze cuckoo, but it was a lightly 

 maiked wren's egg. However, after removing the three eggs 

 I noticed an egg of the narrow billed bronze cuckoo almost 

 coa ered in the feathers lining the nest, this was carefully re- 

 moved by pulling out some of the feathers, and I was surprised 

 to see another egg of the cuckoo at a lower level, and after re- 

 moving this second egg another cuckoo egg was found lower 



still. 



The Wrens had evidently built and lined their nest when 

 the first cuckoo egg was deposited, this they covered with 

 feathers, then another cuckoo egg was placed in the nest, and 

 the owners of the nest again covered it with feathers ; the third 

 cuckoo egg was then deposited in the nest, but the wrens evi- 

 dently were not desirous of undertaking the responsibility of 

 rearing the young cuckoo, and this egg was in its turn, almost 

 covered with feathers. The rightful owner of the nest then 

 laid her three eggs. The egg cavity, however, was by this time 

 about half filled with feathers. 



\ 



A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White- 

 Ornithologist, Soldier, Sailor, and Explorer. 



By His Son, S. A. White, M.B.O.U. 



XV.— THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND SAILOR. 



— A Trip to Wanumbi. — 

 In some brief notes made by my father, and dated from the 

 14th to 21st of July, he says: "About 1 p.m. on the 14th, I 

 Imade a start in the'largest boat, taking a crew of three men to 

 pull, and one taxidermist. I gave instructions to make along 

 the South side of the channel in which the yacht is lying, in a 

 verv short distance we saw a wide opening stretching away to 

 the" South with the tide running up strongly. I determined to 

 try it, and steered the boat for the entrance. Later in the 



