124 
THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
she had the egg in her beak. As he said so the 
Cuckoo flew away, and with unaided vision I could 
see her carrying the egg. Altogether she was on 
the ground for about i6| minutes, it being 1.56 
p.m. when she left. Her second egg of the season 
was lying in the nest alongside one egg of the 
Meadow Pipit where beforehand we had seen 
two. 
The film representation of this laying is very 
distinct. One can actually time how long the 
Cuckoo takes to lay the egg, and during the last 
two seconds the actual moment of extrusion of the 
egg is accompanied by a visible depression of the 
tail. 
The Laying of the Third Egg , May 16. 
I have now given sufficient details of the pre- 
liminaries to egg-laying by Cuckoo A for the reader 
to have become familiar with the usual procedure, 
and so for the remainder of her 1921 series I shall 
only enlarge upon those points which show special 
interest. The practised ornithologist will grasp 
the large and painstaking amount of observational 
work we had to do before it became possible to 
write : “ To-day we fancied such and such a 
Meadow Pipit’s nest for the Cuckoo’s egg No. 
