NOTES AND QUERIES. Ill 



wherever weeds abound, especially plantain and shepherd's-purse, to 

 whose seeds they are very partial. Although so well acquainted with 

 the nests of the Twite, I have never yet found a Cuckoo's egg deposited 

 in the nest of this species. When my son told me of his having found 

 the one referred to in my note I was much surprised, but neve* for a 

 moment questioned the truthfulness of his statement. I fear, how- 

 ever, in making the bare announcement I presumed too much upon 

 your readers looking at the matter from my view-point. I wrote 

 recently to Mr. James Ellison, referred to by my friend Mr. H. B. 

 Booth (' Zoologist,' 1905, p. 432), whose experience of the habits of 

 the Twite is almost unique, and he informed me that he has found the 

 egg of the Cuckoo in the nest of the Twite at least in six instances — 

 in one case in a clutch of white eggs ; but further adds that he has 

 never found the egg deposited in nests built on the more exposed and 

 extensive tracts of moorland, but always in one particular locality 

 where there are a few patches of heather of a few acres in extent. He 

 writes that three years ago he had for the first time a splendid view of 

 a young Cuckoo ejecting young Titlarks and eggs from the nest. It 

 had only been hatched a few hours, and it was wonderful to see the 

 way in which it heaved the young Titlark out of the nest. It climbed 

 up the side of the nest with the young Titlark on its back, raising itself 

 in a backward manner by fixing the hooks of its rudimentary wings 

 into the body of the nest, gradually drawing itself up step by step, 

 just as one does in mounting a flight of steps. On two occasions he 

 had taken two eggs of the Cuckoo out of Titlark's nests ; in both cases 

 he thinks they had been laid by different birds, as the eggs differed 

 both in colour and shape. The last two eggs I found, which were also 

 deposited in the nest of a Titlark, were so very similar, and differed so 

 widely from the type usually found in this district, that I was almost 

 forced to the conclusion they were the product of one female. It is 

 very significant that Mr. Ellison should have found the egg of the 

 Cuckoo only in those Twite's nests which were built in isolated patches 

 of heath away from the wilder parts of the moor. It is curious that 

 the egg found by my son, recorded at the head of this note, was in a 

 nest forming part of a colony which has established itself at some 

 distance from the main body, and at a considerably lower altitude, 

 perhaps 300 ft., and which build on the ground among the bracken. 

 Never once have I found the nest of this species built on the ground 

 on the high moors immediately surrounding this village. This local 

 variation of habits of birds is a most interesting feature in their 

 economy. The Mistle-Thrush here seldom builds its nest except in 

 trees ; whilst in the next valley (Wharfe), in its upper part, it is not 



