276 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



of tenanted Goldcrest's nests, and which, by reason of their somewhat 

 looser, untidy construction and unfinished condition, I take to be the 

 equivalent of the " cock's nest " of the common Wren. The moss, 

 etc., of the nest was so loosely cohering that the heavy egg of the 

 Cuckoo was deeply embedded, although it proved to be quite freshly 

 laid. Owing to the position of the nest, the insertion of the egg 

 must have been a matter of some little trouble. Further, the tree 

 was situated in the interior of a stand of mixed larch and fir within 

 a large oak-wood. Both these facts suggest discrimination on the 

 part of the Cuckoo, however much at fault the choice may have been. 

 — Edwin L. Wood (Harrow). 



Notes on the Laying of the Cuckoo. — Mr. J. Steele Elliott (ante, 

 p. 232), referring to my note in the ' Zoologist,' p. 153, 1916, relative 

 to the Cuckoo sometimes laying its eggs in empty nests, implies, 

 and quite rightly, that such nests may have had the egg or eggs of 

 their rightful owners taken, and therefore the above note does not 

 affect the point of his query (' Zoologist,' p. 317, 1915). There can, 

 I think, be no doubt that the Cuckoos do occasionally, and perhaps 

 frequently, lay in empty nests which have never previously contained 

 any egg or eggs of the owner of such nests. Speaking from personal 

 observation, most of the Cuckoo eggs I have found have been laid in 

 the nest of the dupe when about the third egg had been laid. The 

 following instances, among others, may be cited as bearing on the 

 nature of Mr. Elliott's inquiry. In the ' Countryside ' for May 19th, 

 1906, Mr. Pearce records having found four nests of the Eeed- Warbler, 

 each of which contained a Cuckoo's egg. In one nest the egg of the 

 Cuckoo had been placed before the nest was finished, but still the birds 

 continued building, and when the first egg of the rightful owner was 

 laid the lining of the nest almost covered the cuckoo's egg. Another 

 correspondent of the same journal writes in the September number, 

 1906, that he has known of two instances in which the Cuckoo's 

 egg was deposited several days before the nest of the dupe was com- 

 plete ; and in one instance the Cuckoo's egg was woven into the 

 lining of a Hedge-Sparrow's nest, after which she deposited her eggs. 

 One writer even goes so far as to say that the Cuckoo's eggs which 

 he has found have in every case been deposited before the rightful 

 occupant's eggs. Another correspondent in the ' Countryside ' 

 speaks of a nest of the Pied Wagtail having been but barely finished 

 when a Cuckoo's egg was deposited, and it was two clear days before 

 the first egg of the Wagtail was laid. I could quote a number of 

 other cases in which the Cuckoo's egg had been laid in empty nests, 



