THIRD SEASON (1920): RECORD 73 
The Laying of the Fourteenth Egg , June 8. 
The third nest of No. 6 pair, which was the only 
one available to-day, had still only one egg at 
9.30 a.m. on the 7th. This morning it had two, 
not three as there ordinarily should have been. 
And yet it is extremely unlikely that an egg had 
been removed, as the fosterer ultimately laid a full 
clutch of five. Meadow Pipit “ sixes ” are un- 
known in this district, and indeed extremely rare 
anywhere in England. 
A party of four, we reached the common at 
1 p.m. The Cuckoo — soon in evidence — was dis- 
tinguished from her mates by her silence except 
when “ bubbling.” From the attention paid to 
her by the No. 6 Pipits it was evident that they 
expected favours from the Cuckoo. 
From about 3 p.m. onwards the Cuckoo, after 
having spent a certain amount of time watching 
the male Pipit of No. 8 pair (which pair, by the 
way, acted as fosterers four days later), showed 
evident intentions of fulfilling our expectations of 
the victimisation of No. 6 pair. Twice she flew 
to a large divided pear tree (G) in an orchard on 
the east side of the common, hopping up to her 
invariable perch whence she could command a view 
of the nest, just as she had done when watching on 
