THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
84 
(at least not on the common) her seventeenth egg 
to-day as we had anticipated. There was a nest 
available, as we proved by finding one with two 
eggs of No. 1 pair on the morrow. 
On June 15 Simmonds, junr., arrived on the 
common at 12.30. At 1.50 he heard the Cuckoo 
“ bubble ” in the ash tree K 1 , and lay up to 
observe her. At 3 p.m. she floated down for about 
five seconds to what subsequently was found to be 
the site of the fifth nest of No. 1 pair of Meadow 
Pipits. She returned momentarily to the ash, and 
then flying three times round an oak (L) near by, 
betook herself to the centre orchard and thence 
away without a sound. At 4.20 young Simmonds 
went home, but returned with his father from 
7 p.m. until 8 p.m., finding the nest (i 5 ) with two 
eggs of No. 1 pair. This nest was therefore avail- 
able yesterday for the due deposition of Cuckoo A’s 
seventeenth egg, had it been laid, and it will be 
recollected that she had been seen making obser- 
vations there on June 12 and 13. 
The Taking of the Seventeenth Egg , June 16. 
At 1.5 p.m. the female Cuckoo flew across the 
common into the centre orchard and remained 
there for a short while ; on leaving it she was 
