310 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



the Hoopoe, when Holbeeh at once exclaimed , " That's the bird ; 

 there's no doubt of it, that's the bird I saw." The next day they 

 were not, however, to be seen, and nothing more was heard of them, 

 but it is quite possible that they might have been hatched out 

 somewhere in the neighbourhood. 



CiLCiilus Canorus. " The Cuckoo.'' Very common in the neigh- 

 bourhood of our water-meadows. On one summer's evening I 

 remember thinking I could detect six birds cuckooing around me at 

 one and the same time. I remember on one occasion hearing their 

 familiar note apparently sounding from the heavens themselves. It 

 was an early day in spring, and, on looking up, I saw at an im- 

 measurable distance above my head three Cuckoos, apparently on 

 their migration flight to our shores, and the first sound of their 

 welcome descending upon me in that unsuspected manner had an 

 indescribably pleasing effect. One of the watermen here tells me 

 he has often found the young Cuckoos in the Reed Warblers' nests, 

 but I have never actually seen one myself in them, although I have 

 taken their eggs frequently from them, and can scarcely understand 

 how such a big bird as a young Cuckoo can possibly support itself 

 in them until it is able to fly. As far as I have noticed, should the 

 Cuckoo lay its egg in any nest before the owner itself has deposited 

 any the nest is generally deserted. I found this so in two cases, in 

 that of a Robin's and a Reed Warbler's, but I do not know whether 

 it is generally so or not. 



FISSIROSTRES. 



Halcyontd^:. 



Alcedo Ispida. " The Kingfisher." This beautiful bird is com- 

 mon in our water-meadows, where I have often seen five or six of a 

 day in the course of a day's Snipe shooting. Mr. Hart tells me in 

 the Christchurch Harbour and district they increase in numbers 

 perceptibly during the winter months, when they are numerous 

 about there. He has one very peculiar specimen in his collection, 

 the entire under- parts from chin to vent being pure white, instead 

 of the usual rich orange colour. In the winter of 1876-77, when 

 the floods were higher in the Avon Valley than they have been for 



