156 Wad Life in a Southern County. 
dwelling-house, especially frequenting the courtyard 
in front of the dairy. As he flies he rises up and 
then sinks again, in a succession of undulations, now 
spreading the tail out and now closing it. On the 
ground he generally alights near water; he is con- 
tinually jerking the tail up and down. 
One spring a cuckoo came to this nest in the ivy 
close to the casement ; she was seen flying near the 
house several times, and, being observed to visit the 
ivy-covered gable, was finally traced to the wagtail’s 
“nest. For several days in succession, and several 
times a day, the cuckoo came, and would doubtless 
have left an egg had not she been shot by a person 
who wanted a cuckoo to stuff. 
It is difficult to understand upon what principle 
the cuckoo selected a nest thus placed. The ordinary 
considerations put forward as guiding birds and 
animals in their actions quite fail. Instinct would 
scarcely choose a spot so close to a house—actually 
on it; the desire of safety would not lead to it either, 
nor the idea of concealment. She might, no doubt, 
have found nests enough at a distance from houses, 
and much more likely to escape observation. Was 
there any kind of feeling that this particular wagtail was 
more likely to take care of the offspring than others? 
I doubt the cuckoo’s alleged total indifference to 
her young. They certainly linger in the neighbour- 
hood of the nests which they have selected to deposit 
their eggs in. On another occasion a cuckoo used a 
