FOURTH SEASON (1921): RECORD 139 
It appears, from observations made elsewhere, 
that if the female is delayed in the laying of her 
egg a male often arrives on the scene and tries to 
take a part in the matter. But in ordinary circum- 
stances I should not expect this. 
At 5.20 I decided to give up the struggle with 
the Cuckoo and exchanged the single egg of the 
intended fosterer for a substitute which the Cuckoo 
could take away, so that I should be able to take the 
Cuckoo’s egg, restart the pair and yet have the 
only egg of that fosterer. 
Immediately we had removed ourselves to a 
distance of some thirty yards the Cuckoo flew 
down and settled within a few yards of the nest, a 
distance of no yards from the tree H 1 , and 100 
yards from the centre orchard. As she was looking 
around, some sheep wandered in single file along 
a track close to the nest. She fluttered aside to 
allow the sheep to pass, and then resumed her 
search for the nest. She peered here and there, 
and as soon as she saw the nest, which was well 
hidden in the gorse, she dived inside, and within 
eight seconds had backed out and was away with 
the substituted egg in her beak. Altogether she 
was on the ground about six minutes, and the 
egg was laid about 5.25 p.m. 
