NOTES ANt) QtJEMES. 225 



egg on April 28th, in the nest of a Robin. — H. S. B. Goldsmith (Bridge- 

 water). 



Variation of Plumage in Cuckoo. — Apropos of the question of March 

 Cuckoos, Mr. Southwell, in the last number of ' The Zoologist,' states that 

 the " few particulars given have always appeared to indicate the plumage 

 of the young bird, an obvious absurdity." Without any disrespect for 

 so high an authority, I should like to mention some facts that have fallen 

 under my own observation ; once (some three or four years ago) in Epping 

 Forest ; and again, only last week, on a certain moor some twelve miles 

 from Whitby. Cuckoos abound there this year. On the morning of May 

 14th two Cuckoos flew close past me. Noticing something curious about 

 one of them, I marked them down in a bare patch in the ling, and crawling 

 within about fifty yards of them, I had just time to get my glasses focussed 

 upon them, when they were disturbed by one of the moorland sheep, and 

 disappeared down a gully. For the short space that I had them under 

 observation, I was able to see distinctly that one was in the normal 

 plumage, and the other, which had its back towards me, was in all respects 

 marked precisely like a young bird of the year. I was unable to note the 

 colour of the flanks and under parts, as also the colour of the irides. On 

 returning home, and looking up the literature on the subject, I find in 

 Yarrell (ed. 4, vol ii., p. 407) notice of "certain examples, presumably 

 young, which put on a plumage very different from that generally assumed 

 and which have been described under the name of Cuculus rufus." Whether 

 the bird seen by me was one of these, or a variety, I am unable to say ; I 

 merely mention facts as I observed them ; but taken in connection with 

 Mr. Southwell's remarks, these birds certainly bear a close resemblance to 

 a female Kestrel, and the thought occurred to me, that when putting down 

 all early Cuckoos as Kestrels, the possible occurrence of this species or 

 variety, whichever it is, should be taken into consideration. — Oxley 

 Grabham, M.A. (Croxton Villa, Scarborough). 



[We understand Mr. Southwell's remarks to mean that in certain cases, 

 where the early appearance of supposed Cuckoos has been reported, the 

 description of the plumage given by the observer has pointed either to the 

 Kestrel, or to a Cuckoo in the immature reddish brown barred plumage, 

 which so early in the spring (he considers) would be an impossibility, or, as 

 he puts it, " an obvious absurdity." This raises the question whether 

 the Cuckoo ever retains the immature plumage until its second year. 

 We have no doubt that it occasionally does so — it misses a moult, just 

 as trained falcons are occasionally observed to do — and the following 

 remarks in 'The Birds of Middlesex' (1866, p. 120) are to the point: — 

 " Occasionally an adult Cuckoo is obtained in the reddish brown plumage 

 peculiar to the young bird, but this happens very rarely. I know of two 

 instances in which old birds have been shot in this state of plumage, one 



