NOTES AND QUERIES. 339 



another loud metallic note quite as difficult to describe as the last, which 

 this bird often utters, and which I have always taken to be the note of the 

 female, for the simple reason that it is almost exactly like the note of the 

 female Koel or Indian Black Cuckoo (Eudynamys honorata), but I have had 

 no means of proving it. Now, whilst on the subject of Cuckoos, I may as 

 well relate a little episode that occurred here this year. The day after my 

 arrival at Brettenham, I noticed a pair of Cuckoos flying about the garden, 

 calling and settling on an old dead tree in front of my window ; this was 

 on April 4th. How long they had been in the neighbourhood I do not 

 know, but they were certainly there on that date ; and I mention this as 

 there has been much discussion lately upon the subject of the early dates of 

 arrival of this species. I kept my eye on these birds for some weeks, 

 searching for their eggs, and on June 9th found one in a Pied Wagtail's 

 nest, strange to say, within a foot of my egg-cabinet ! The nest, which 

 was about 3 ft. from the ground, was built in the ivy running up the out- 

 side wall of my sitting-room, the cabinet being on the inside, and the nest 

 on the outside of the wall. Feeling sure that the eggs must have been 

 intended for my collection, I took the whole clutch to prevent disappoint- 

 ment, consisting of five Wagtail's eggs and one Cuckoo's, the latter being 

 of the Wagtail type, and closely resembling those eggs. Not wishing, 

 however, to destroy the Wagtail's nest, which was the second nest it had 

 built in the same piece of ivy, the first brood having hatched off safely, I 

 put five Spotted Flycatcher's eggs into the nest, and in a short time these 

 were hatched off and reared, and the young birds are now flying about upon 

 my lawn, and able to take care of themselves. The Wagtails were probably 

 astonished that they did not run about the lawn after they left the nest, 

 according to the habits of their species ; but they continued to feed them 

 nevertheless until they were full grown. It is very difficult to ascertain 

 how many eggs the Cuckoo lays, as they are so difficult to find ; but I feel 

 sure they lay very few, — probably not more than four or five, if as many, — 

 for so few young birds are to be seen after they are hatched. This year I 

 only saw one young bird that undoubtedly belonged to these same Cuckoos, 

 and that was reared by another pair of Wagtails in my kitchen garden. 

 Had there been others about I must have noticed them. Possibly one or 

 two eggs may have got destroyed, but probably not, for I examined in- 

 numerable nests that had not been disturbed in the same locality without 

 finding one. As regards the size of the egg, it is no doubt a provision of 

 nature that it should be small, for two reasons — first, in order that it may 

 correspond fairly in size with the eggs of the bird in whose nest it is placed ; 

 and secondly, in order that the bird may be able to carry it in its mouth, 

 which it could not do if it was larger, and which I believe it almost in- 

 variably does previous to depositing it in the nest of the foster-parents. In 

 some cases, of course, a Cuckoo may lay her egg in a nest in the usual way, 



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