THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
94 
The Finding of the Twenty-first Egg , June 28. 
A period of five days elapsed between the 
laying of the twentieth egg on the 22nd and that 
of the twenty-first and last on the 27th. The 
observations on the intervening days were as 
follows : — 
On June 24 we arrived on the common at 
10.45 a - m * an d on ly occasionally heard the male 
Cuckoos from their favourite quarter on the south- 
east side. At 12.50 p.m. Simmonds noticed two 
Cuckoos slipping into the orchard on the east side 
of the common and flying thence behind the 
orchard at the north-east end. Shortly afterwards 
a male flew across into the centre orchard, and we 
caught a glimpse of the female sneaking along the 
hedge on the north-east. We failed to locate her 
and neither saw nor heard anything again until 
3.45 p.m. when Simmonds, junr., caught sight of 
her gliding down the depression on the common 
from the north-east direction. After dipping, she 
was followed by a Pipit to the centre orchard. 
Shortly afterwards she flew away thence southwards 
to the forest. 
On going to where the Cuckoo had glided the 
two Simmondses found a Pipit’s nest with one egg. 
The territory belonged to either No. 3 or No. 4 pair 
