THIRD SEASON (1920): NOTES 101 
flew down and laid her egg in the nest of that pair. 
It will have been seen that our evidence repeatedly 
shows that the steady watching by the Cuckoo of 
the fosterer’s nest for anything up to 2| hours on 
end would appear to be an essential act immediately 
precedent to the deposition of an egg. This dis- 
covery should surely be of much value hence- 
forward, whenever a Cuckoo is observed to sit 
motionless, with attention apparently concentrated 
upon some object, for should the observer be 
desirous of having the satisfaction of witnessing the 
deposition of her egg, her subsequent behaviour 
should be carefully watched. 
As a rule, it was not until about 1 p.m. that the 
female Cuckoo avoided the company of the male, 
or males, in attendance upon her, and until she 
did so, identification was almost impracticable. 
Conversely, her deliberate action in avoiding the 
company of the males for the obvious purpose of 
concentrating her attention on one or other of the 
pairs of Meadow Pipits, which often appeared to 
be at least as interested in her movements as she 
in theirs, not only proved her to be a female but 
also gave us the signal to concentrate our attention 
upon her and to use every endeavour to maintain 
her under observation. 
