206 
THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
it. I now replaced a second of her eggs with 
another Shrike’s egg. When I revisited the nest 
it was deserted and the Stonechat’s egg was gone, 
the two Shrike’s remaining in possession. I am 
inclined to believe that the Stonechat, finding the 
substituted eggs beyond its powers of ejection, 
accepted it perforce for the time being, and later 
removed its own egg. ... In the case of a Warbler 
( Cisticola natalensis) there was suggestive evidence 
— in the form of a fresh hole made low down in the 
side of the nest and the position of the ‘ Cuckoo’s ’ 
egg in relation to it — of such an attempt previous 
to the removal of the bird’s own eggs.” 
Further, Mr. Swynnerton writes— 
“ I remember well that as a schoolboy in Ireland 
and England my main fear, justified by experience, 
was lest by visiting a nest too frequently or taking 
too many eggs I might make the bird desert. 
Here, in Africa, my fear is not so much the desertion 
of the eggs (though this sometimes occurs) as their 
disappearance, and the Kaffirs, in giving their 
reason for avoiding tampering with a nest with 
eggs, or placing a charm in it if they have touched 
an egg, always say, not that the bird will desert, 
but that it will take its eggs away ; cases are some- 
times mentioned in which, as in the case I have 
myself mentioned, the bird was seen carrying its 
eggs away.” 
