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CUCULIDyE. 
field of Biiness, within a few hundred yards of the spot where 
the bird of the previous year was shot.* 
Ohs . — The Nuthatch {Sitta Europcca) is mentioned by Mr 
Gray Birds of West of Scotland,” page 200) as having been 
shot in Bressay. The bird referred to is the Why neck which 
was shot there by Major Cameron, as stated in my account of 
that species. 
THE CUCKOO. 
Cuculus canorus. 
Singularly out of place though it may appear, away from its 
own leafy haunts, the Cuckoo nevertheless visits these islands 
not infrequently, sometimes indeed feeling so much at home 
as to condescend to leave an egg in the nest of some unfortunate 
meadow Pipit or Skylark. I have repeatedly seen well-fledged 
birds in autumn, and have little doubt that they were bred in 
the neighbourhood. Once, about the middle of July, observing 
a singular-looking bird fluttering among the grassy ledges in a 
steep ravine, I was endeavouring to climb to it when a Hooded 
Crow swooped down and carried it off. I just reached my gun 
in time, and brought down both birds. Whether I was guilty of 
a double murder or not it is impossible to say, but the victim, 
a poor unfledged Cuckoo, had been struck by the shot and was 
quite dead when I took it up. I therefore carried it home for 
a specimen, leaving the other bird at the bottom of the ravine 
with that blessing which all good ornithologists bestow upon 
Hoodie Crows and cats. 
* In the note-books of the subsequent eleven years, I can find no further 
allusion to the occurrence of the Hoopoe in Shetland. — E d. 
