IIO 
THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
No. 4 male she continued to select the same 
somewhat unusual type of building site as had 
distinguished her from the other pairs on the 
common at the beginning of the season. 
This affords an unique illustration of the 
truth of the theory that whereas the male bird 
wins for himself the right to territory, yet 
with the female rests the choice of the precise 
situation on that territory. 
Not so unlike the human order, in this as 
in many respects ! 
No. 5 pair first nested before the Cuckoo returned. 
Its second nest got the Cuckoo’s fourth egg, 
the laying of which was also filmed. The 
third nest was visited by the Cuckoo and 
photographed by Miss Turner, but the Cuckoo 
refused to lay there. The fourth nest was 
used by the Cuckoo for her fourteenth egg 
and was also filmed and subsequently held a 
brood, eggs of other Meadow Pipits substi- 
tuted for those taken with the Cuckoo’s 
having hatched. 
No. 6 pair had five nests, the first before the 
Cuckoo’s arrival. The second received the 
Cuckoo’s first egg ; the third the Cuckoo’s 
sixth egg ; the fourth the Cuckoo’s ninth egg ; 
the fifth the Cuckoo’s thirteenth egg, the 
laying of which was filmed, and the fosterers’ 
then hatched substituted Meadow Pipit’s eggs. 
