CHAPTER II 
THE FIRST SEASON (1918) .* RECORD OF OBSERVATIONS 
At the beginning of the season of 1918 I had no 
definite plans for a close study of the Cuckoo, and 
it was not until the end of May that I was struck 
with the continuous calling of several birds about 
a small common near which I was engaged during 
evenings and week-ends in searching for nests 
of the Tree Pipit ( Anthus trivialis). Recollecting 
that, two seasons previously, there had been found 
in Meadow Pipits’ nests on this very common five 
eggs obviously laid by one Cuckoo, and a sixth egg 
by another, it dawned upon me that this was an 
ideal place in which to begin my investigations. 
For here I had a small and comparatively open 
piece of ground under a mile in circumference. 
On most of three sides it is bordered by forest, 
on the remainder by orchards, and here and 
there are trees placed as if on purpose to provide 
ideal observation posts for Cuckoos. The con- 
figuration of the ground is of a gently undulating 
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