238 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



possession of a fac-simile sketch from na- 

 ture. 



The following is the account given by Mrs. 

 Blackburn (the lady referred to) of the circum- 

 stance as it came under her observation : ' — 



" The nest which we watched last June, after 

 finding the Cuckoo's egg. in it, was that of the 

 Coriimon Meadow Pipit (Titlark, or Moss- 

 Cheeper), and had two Pipit's eggs, besides 

 that of the Cuckoo. 



"It was below a heather bush, on the declivity 

 of a low abrupt bank, on a Highland hill-side, 

 in Moidart. At one visit the Pipits were found 

 to be hatched, but not the Cuckoo. 



" At the next visit, which was after an interval 

 of forty-eight hours, we found the young Cuckoo 

 alone in the nest, and both the young Pipits 

 lying down the bank, about ten inches from the 

 margin of the nest, but quite lively after being 

 warmed in the hand. They were replaced in 



^ It would seem that this account was first published by 

 Mrs. Blackburn, in what she terms " a little versified tale of 

 mine," entitled " The Pipits," which appeared in Glasgow 

 in 1872. 



