3328 



Birds. 



erythrocephala of Vigors, P. aurantia of Gould, and P. erythaca of Blyth, a description 

 of which last will appear in the forthcoming number of the ' Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society.' — Edward Blyth; Calcutta, October 1, 1862. 



Deposition of Eggs by the Cuckoo.— No one can say that this subject has not been 

 well ventilated in the columns of the ' Zoologist, and Mr. Saxby deserves great credit 

 for authenticating several rather novel facts. I am obliged to him also for adding one 

 more singing bird to the number of foster-parents, the chaffinch. T believe most of 

 the undermentioned birds are all noted down by Dr. Jenner, Mr. White of Selborne, 

 and other great observers : the hedge accentor or common hedgesparrow, gray water 

 wagtail, titlark, robin redbreast, redstart, chaffinch and the meadow pipit. The three 

 first named are the prime favourites. Up to this time I have never heard or read of 

 the young cuckoo being found in any other nest. The redstart is the only migratory 

 bird, I think, among those named, and this last is very much in favour of Mr. Saxby's 

 theory, as that bird generally builds in a wall or hole in a hollow tree, and others in 

 cramped places most difficult for the cuckoo to enter. 1 now bid adieu for some time 

 to this subject, and have to thank Mr. Saxby for an unmerited compliment in the last 

 number of the 1 Zoologist];' and when the middle of April arrives we may hope to wel- 

 come this extraordinary and eccentric bird in the words of a minor poet : — 



Hail ! beauteous stranger of the grove, 



Thou messenger of spring ; 

 Now heaven repairs thy rural seat, 



And woods thy welcome ring. 



What time the daisy decks the green 



Thy certain voice we hear. 

 Hast thou a star to guide thy path, 



Or mark the rolling year? 



The schoolboy wandering through the wood 



To pluck the primrose gay, 

 Starts, thy curious voice to hear, 



And imitates tby lay. 



In addition to the number of singing birds named I had forgotten the whitethroat, 

 mentioned by Mr. White, in the ' Natural History of Selborne ;' this makes two migra- 

 tory birds. Mr. Willughby, a close observer, about a century ago, mentions the stock 

 dove also, but I should doubt this being the case. But in corroboration of Mr. Saxby 

 again, Captain Brown, F.L.S., in his edition of White's ' Selborne,' dated 1828, men- 

 tions having watched a cuckoo visiting the nest of a wagtail, and on the bird's return 

 from the nest he fired a gun at the cuckoo, which dropped something from its mouth; 

 and on looking at the spot where he observed this on the ground, he discovered the 

 egg of a wagtail on the grass: he afterwards visited the nest of the wagtail and found 

 one cuckoo's egg, an exchange- having been evidently made by the cuckoo. — H. W. 

 Newman ; Hillside, Cheltenham, November 5, 1862. 



A Young Cuckoo in a Redstart's Nest. — In 1859 a redstart built her nest in a hole 

 of my garden wall. The entrance to the hole was so small that I could hardly get ray 

 hand in. I found the nest when it had only one egg in it, and 1 did not disturb it, 



