THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
170 
deviated somewhat from her regularity of laying 
(every alternate day) in not laying on the 4th as was 
expected. Mr. Scholey attributes this to a very 
cold night on the 3rd retarding the progress of the 
egg ; but I should not confirm that opinion. 
Ensued a third break, the Cuckoo’s thirteenth, 
fourteenth, and fifteenth eggs being laid on June 
17, 20, and 23 respectively. Here we have a 
remarkable variation in laying times, two clear days 
elapsing between the deposition of each of these eggs. 
After a fourth break this Cuckoo produced at 
normal intervals her sixteenth and seventeenth eggs 
on June 27 and 29 respectively. Then for the last 
time she took another rest, producing her eighteenth 
and nineteenth eggs on July 4 and 6, the last egg, 
as is so often the case, being a smaller one. Mr. 
Scholey states that this Cuckoo deposited her eggs 
between 1 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. (summer time) and 
invariably removed one or two of the fosterer’s eggs 
in exchange for her own ; but he did not wait by 
whilst she laid, for of course he did not know before- 
hand in which nest or upon what day she would lay. 
This short account shows that this particular 
Cuckoo evinced that degree of variation in the habit 
of the individual which further research may 
prove to be characteristic of the species in general. 
