FOURTH SEASON (1921) : RECORD 123 
nising where she was, she made towards the nest 
very quickly and for the whole time that I could 
observe her went straight up to the nest, sat down 
upon it, her tail projecting outwards, remained on 
it for 5-10 seconds, came out again backwards, 
tail first, turned round and flew off. I was too 
close up and the rapidity of movement was too 
quick to see the egg in the beak.” 
After my stop-watch had registered that the 
Cuckoo had been on the ground near Hawkins’ 
hide and the nest for over five minutes, I crept up 
behind the hide in which Simmonds was concealed, 
to find that he had not heard my whistle, and so 
was unaware that the Cuckoo had already been 
for so long near the nest. I stood behind his hide, 
peeping over the top, and talked to him quietly 
while he put his glasses on the Cuckoo. From 
time to time she waddled behind the gorse and 
consequently out of sight ; in between whiles we 
could clearly see her stumbling about awkwardly 
over the gorse and looking puzzled and anxious 
to find the nest. Ultimately we saw that she had 
found it, and suddenly Simmonds, who had kept 
his glasses on her more persistently than I (who 
for the most part was watching her with the naked 
eye from over the top of the hide), exclaimed that 
