434 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



there can be little doubt that there are a great many spurious Cuckoo- 

 clutches in existence. In some cases a genuine Cuckoo's egg is added 

 to a clutch of eggs which the Cuckoo herself never saw. Sometimes 

 the imposition goes further, and only this last season a young friend 

 of mine was taken in by a clutch of four Yellow Wagtail, with a 

 palpable Sky-Lark's egg added to it. I blew this clutch myself, and 

 there was no room for any doubt about the matter. The finding of a 

 Cuckoo's egg in a Dabchick's nest seems to admit of a possible 

 explanation that a Cuckoo may have used a Dabchick's nest as a 

 temporary convenience on which to lay her egg, and was disturbed 

 before she could take it away to deposit it in a Eeed- Warbler's nest or 

 other suitable nursery. — Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. 

 Edmunds). 



[Mr. Bladen's list (published, I believe, privately), including the 

 Twite, is also to be found in the 'Trans. N. Staff. Nat. Hist. Field 

 Club,' March, 1896, where the Twite is again referred to as in Dr. Key's 

 list in * Kuckucks.' In addition to Mr. Bidwell's list (1884), to which 

 I referred {ante, p. 391), the same writer subsequently gave a " List of 

 Western Palsearctic species in the nest of which the Cuckoo's egg has 

 been found " ('Bull. B.O.C v. pp. xxxii-v (1896)), in which he again 

 included the Twite. A lengthy and excellent paper on the Cuckoo will 

 also be found in 'Verb. Ornith. Ges. Bayern.' 1903, Bd. iv. pp. 123- 

 178, entitled "Der Europaische Kuckuck," by J. A. Link. — Ed.] 



Late Stay of Swift. — As supplementary to my note on summer 

 migrants (ante, p. 359) the unusually late stay of Swifts may be men- 

 tioned. The main body seemed to depart, as usual, about the middle 

 of August, but stragglers were seen fully a month later. I saw one 

 near the church-tower on Sept. 17th, and two days later a friend saw 

 another, and, strange to say, he shot a Wigeon the same evening ; it 

 is not often the two species are met with on the same date. I saw a 

 single Swift almost daily to Sept. 30th, and my ornithological friends 

 reported it, or another, up to Oct. 12th or 14th. Whether the same 

 bird I cannot say, but a single specimen was seen in widely separated 

 localities, sometimes alone, but often mingling with the few late 

 Swallows. The somewhat severe hoar-frost we experienced since the 

 dates above mentioned, I suppose, either killed the bird or constrained 

 it to seek a more hospitable climate ; but why did a single bird remain ? 

 Immaturity and consequent inability for long journey has been sug- 

 gested, but its strength of wing would negative such a proposition, 

 whilst the family cares of a late brood might have been an item in the 

 delay ; yet in some cases it has been observed that the desire for migra- 



