122 THE CUCKOO'S SECRET 
description of what he saw from inside the 
hide. 
“ I heard the whistle and saw the Cuckoo alight 
but did not observe the direction from which she 
came. The spot on which she alighted was 
between 3 and 5 yards from the nest. She walked 
round about as if looking for the nest, and from time 
to time I lost sight of her behind the short gorse. 
She walked further away from the nest and to my 
right and consequently I had to make another peep- 
hole through the hide to observe her movements. 
At intervals I turned the handle of the camera to 
see what notice she would take of the noise, which 
Mr. Chance and Simmonds had previously stated 
might wreck the whole performance. To my 
relief, however, she apparently took no notice of 
the noise and still continued to search for the 
nest. . . . All this time the Cuckoo was out of the 
range of the camera lens, and I was beginning to 
fear that she would not go to the nest and might 
fly away again, but eventually she came within the 
lens, approaching from my right and coming nearer 
to the hide than she need have done to get to the 
nest. Not desiring to shift my position I found 
great difficulty now in following her movements 
towards the nest, and I was now of course turning 
the camera handle continuously. She apparently 
took no heed whatever of this. Apparently recog- 
