164 



*lhe Irish Naturalist. 



July, 



A Cuckoo and its egg. 



A farmer near here, whom I know well, was witness a few days since 

 to the Cuckoo's act of introducing its egg into a Titlark's nest. He has 

 given me the following particulars, and I have seen the spot where the 

 scene took place. On the 23rd May he was walking in one of his fields, 

 and noticed a Cuckoo flying over a small clump of furze bushes. It 

 hovered round and round a particular spot, and then flew away a short 

 distance. He then walked up and found in the spot, just beneath where 

 the bird was circling, a Titlark's nest with three eggs. Then hiding 

 behind a fence quite near, he watched the Cuckoo, which returned in a 

 few minutes. It perched some few yards from the nest, laid its egg on 

 the ground, and carried it in its bill to the Titlark's nest, and placed it 

 therein. One of the three eggs in the nest he saw in its bill after it left 

 the nest, and this it left on the ground quite near, and when he went up 

 to look at the nest after the bird had flown away, he found the Titlark's 

 egg broken in two and the contents on the ground. The Cuckoo's egg, 

 which is now in my collection, diff"ers considerably in colour from those 

 of its foster parents. It is a good bit larger than the other eggs, but yet, 

 after all, would hardly attract the notice of the real owner of the nest 

 either from its size or colour. 



I have every confidence in the man who gave me the above informa- 

 tion. He is a most reliable observer. 



WlI.I,IAM W. Fl^EMYING. 



Coolfin, Portlaw. 



Quails in Co. Dublin. 



It may interest some readers to know that Quails have appeared this 

 year in our neighbourhood. I heard one or two on Saturday last, 20th 

 May, and I believe that they have also been heard near Swords. I have 

 not heard one in Ireland for the ten years preceding. Mr. Moffat's 

 theory as to their appearance in dry seasons seems highly probable. 



Chari^es W. Benson. 



Balbriggan. 



Quails in Co. Down. 



Mr. Joseph Watson, a gentleman who lives a couple of miles outside 

 Lurgan on the Co. Down side, has informed me that on two occasions 

 recently he heard in his neighbourhood a Ouail. Mr. Watson is quite 

 positive in his statement. The particular place where he heard it was 

 in former years a famous place for these birds ; he remembers as a boy 

 seeing and hearing them there in hundreds. 



Wm. M'Endoo. 



Ballymore Rectory, Co. Armagh. 



