64 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CUCKOO. 
trees has been sufficiently expanded to afford them 
shelter and concealment, I have known nine or ten of 
these birds come in an evening to roost among the 
evergreens in the plantations immediately adjoiming 
our family residence; and as I am certain that all the 
Cuckoos belonging to the township of Crumpsall, in 
which it is situated, did not come to roost with us on 
those occasions, and as it is very probable that I did 
not see all which did come, I think, though the num- 
ber of males is reported to exceed that of females, 
that four will not be considered a high average for 
the latter in Crumpsall, which contains 3,301,816 
square yards, nor three too high as a general average 
for an equal area, since Dr. Jenner remarks that 
Cuckoos are numerous in Gloucestershire, and Colonel 
Montagu states that they are plentiful in Devon- 
shire* ; and I know, from my own observation, that 
they are much more abundant in many parts of Lan- 
cashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Warwick- 
shire, and also in Westmoreland and Cumberland, 
especially in the neighbourhood of the Lakes, than 
they are with us. I am informed likewise that they 
are very plentiful in Yorkshire and also in the prin- 
cipality of Wales. The mean number of eggs laid by 
those birds which are usually selected by the Cuckoo 
to provide for its progeny is five. Now, according to 
Pinkerton, the area of England and Wales is 49,450 
square miles, which, reduced to square yards, gives 
* ‘Ornithological Dictionary,’ Introduction, p. 10. 
