3 6 
THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
to secure every egg she might lay, and to give her 
every opportunity to lay the maximum number of 
eggs of which she was capable. 
It soon became obvious that in order to achieve 
success the precise number of pairs of Meadow 
Pipits nesting on the common must be definitely 
ascertained, and that each pair must be identified 
and singled out for attention throughout the whole 
season. The preliminary searches had given us 
reason to think that there were only six pairs in 
residence, but the close attention given daily after 
the Cuckoo had begun to lay soon revealed the 
presence of nine pairs of Meadow Pipits. In- 
cidentally I had roughly calculated last season that 
there were then not more than ten pairs in residence. 
It is now coming to be recognised as a well- 
established fact that in the case of all the smaller 
birds which breed in Britain, and probably else- 
where as well, from the time a first nest of eggs has 
been taken or destroyed, a lapse of five days or a 
few more is all that is necessary before that same 
pair of birds can be relied upon to have built 
another nest in the same vicinity. (The word 
“ territory ” will be used in that connection.) As 
I have stated already, personal experience of a great 
number of nests of the Red-backed Shrike has 
