136 
THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
her egg and removing one of the fosterer’s, the 
time occupied being about forty seconds. 
Later, on examining the eggs in No. 7 nest, I 
found, instead of two eggs out of three I had 
previously substituted for those of the fosterer, 
that one of them was undoubtedly the latter’s fifth 
egg. This therefore shows that since the Cuckoo’s 
visit to the nest on the afternoon of the 26th and 
my visit to it this morning, she had been to the 
nest again and removed one of the three substi- 
tuted eggs ; but the Pipit had evidently laid her 
fifth egg on the morning of the 27th, making the 
number again three. The reason why I had substi- 
tuted eggs in this nest for those laid by the Pipit was 
that I did not want the Cuckoo to take one from 
what was rather a well-marked set. This particular 
clutch of Meadow Pipit’s eggs is in my collection. 
The Laying of the Ninth Egg , May 30. 
The nest we believed destined for the Cuckoo 
to-day was the third of No. 5 pair which now had 
four eggs. But during the morning Owen found 
the fourth nest of No. 6 pair already completed and 
containing one egg. This was unexpectedly quick 
work, as this pair had only been restarted on the 24th 
after the Cuckoo had used the nest that afternoon. 
