THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
1 88 
previously — evidence that F was a wanderer there 
too. There was no sign of this Cuckoo in 1921, 
further corroborating the theory that F was without 
territory. 
Now to consider Cuckoo B. Where had she 
been all through the second season, 1919, until 
her first egg found was laid on the common about 
June 28 ? and how came it that she was on the spot 
and ready to enter as soon as A had finished for 
the season ? It can be presumed that in the 
absence of A she would have occupied the territory, 
for she had utilised it in the previous season and 
attempted to do so again in the third. It can also 
be assumed that she remained in the vicinity and 
found no suitable vacant territory in the second 
year, else she would not have been at hand to enter 
upon her original ground at the very moment that 
it became free to her. Study of the doings of 
Cuckoo A shows that the procedure necessary to 
achieve a successful egg-laying covers a matter of 
several days, since for this purpose she keeps a close 
watch from her several observational trees upon the 
activities of the fosterers in her territory. From this 
it is to be deduced that a Cuckoo, without a territory 
of her own, condemned to wander, has immensely 
curtailed chances of finding dupes. She will not as 
