NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 173 
of wasps. They are much given to digging up the nests for the sake of the 
wasp grubs of which they are very fond. 
South-acre, Swaffham. Edmunp Thos. Daubeny. 
533. Cuckoos. — Three eggs have been laid by cuckoos in the same 
wagtail’s nest in this village. One of the birds was thrown out by the others 
and died. Of the two that remained, one was seen in the garden before it 
could fly, and being fed by its foster parents survived ejection from the nest. 
The third occupied the nest for some time, and was found dead shortly after 
becoming full fledged. I heard the cuckoo and even its gurgling note on 
July 15, showing that the old birds remained late this year, a record as far as 
the observation of their cry is concerned. The young birds of the year slay 
several weeks longer than their parents ; a reversal of the ordinary rule of 
migration. 
Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
534. Notes on the Cuckoo. — In supporting the writers of Nos. 504 and 
512 in their statements that the cuckoo often calls while on the wing, I should 
like to suggest that the idea that the bird “ in June changes his tune ” is merely 
a concession to the convenience of the rhyme, since I have often heard him say 
cuc-cuc-koo in May, and think it is simply the result of excitement caused by his 
seeing another bird or getting impatient at not seeing a prospective mate. The 
latter state of mind is also provocative, I think, of the sound described as a 
harsh, rasping “caw,” by Mr. Blakiston (p. 151) — a sort of rough hiss, I should 
call it — and very suggestive of bad language. Being once out with a friend, who 
was very expert at imitating the cuckoo’s note and called up a bird we heard 
some distance off, we sat down under a tree and watched the bird. It answered 
my friend most eagerly and kept flying round us at some little distance, from tree 
to tree, making the “swearing” noise almost every time it took wing, and 
seemingly getting very exasperated at not being able to find the supposed other 
cuckoo. At last it caught sight of us and deparied. I do not know the gurgling 
sound, but possibly this is made bv the female. In reference to the cuckoo’s 
classical name referred to by L. II. (p. 137), is it a fact that cUcnlus means a 
cuckoo? In an old Latin dictionary of mine there is no reference to the cuckoo 
at all under this word, so it can hardly have been intended to express the bird’s 
cry. It is unfortunate, too, that the English name does not express the cry 
either ; it should be cookoo, with the first 00 short and the second long, to be 
exact. The Italian cuccu and Welsh cwcw are much nearer. It seems to me 
I hat, if cuculus had been intended to express the bird’s cry, the lus is superfluous. 
Personally, I think the word originally existed in Latin with another meaning 
and was afterwards applied to the cuckoo as appropriate in several ways without 
modification. 
Hale End, Chingford. C. Nicholson. 
535. A Kestrel at Close Quarters. — The occurrences described under 
this heading on pp. 117 and 152 are by no means exceptional, I believe, assum- 
ing the hero (or victim) in the first was a sparrow-hawk, and not a kestrel, as is 
most probable, kestrels being rather birds of the fields, while sparrow-hawks hunt 
more in woods and amongst bushes. In both cases, no doubt, the bird of prey 
was pursuing its intended victim and was either unable to stop itself in time to 
prevent its collision with the window, or was ignorant of the existence and 
nature of the glass in the latter. The very fact of its pursuing its prey also con- 
firms the supposition that it was a sparrow-hawk, since kestrels do not indulge in 
the chase, but descend with stonelike velocity on their victims from a great 
height. 
Hale End, Chingford. C. NICHOLSON. 
536. A Garden Full of Birds. — Mr. Daubeny’s garden is indeed unique 
as a nesting place. I cannot claim to rival it, but can note the following bird 
homes also within thirty yards of our windows 
Blue Tit 
Cole Tit 
Greater Tit 
Wren 
Gold-Crest 
Willow-Wren 
House-Sparrow 
Tree-Sparrow 
Pied Wagtail 
Chaffinch 
Greenfinch 
Spotted Flycatcher 
Swallow 
Yellow-hammer 
Thrush 
Blackbird 
Missel-Thrush 
Magpie 
Wood-Pigeon 
Robin 
Hedge-Sparrow 
