NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 175 
Late Cuckoos. — On page 159, last month, I referred to this subject up to 
July 5. One was singing up till the loth here, and about two miles away one was 
singing on July 15, I was informed, thus breaking the record of July 13, 1879. 
In my last note I mentioned that I had neither seen a cuckoo’s egg nor a young 
bird then, but several young cuckoos have come under my observation since ; one 
1 have seen daily up to the present time (August 9), being reared and fed by a 
hedge-sparrow, or accentor. When the cuckoo was in the nest I examined 
underneath the nest to see if I could find out if the cuckoo had ejected either the 
sparrow’s egg, or its little bed-fellow-sparrows, but found neither, but a second 
cuckoo's egg instead, which had evidently been ousted by the occupant ; it was 
badly cracked and contained a young bird ready to hatch out. 
I am often asked by neighbours if I know where the cuckoos go to pass the 
winter, and I am unable to give definite information. Can the Editor or any 
of our correspondents kindly inform us from observation, or from reliable sources, 
inhere they are found in foreign parts in winter? Some people who are ignorant 
on the subject believe that they “ turn into hawks ! ” others that they “ turn into 
toads ! ” probably from the fact that cuckoos, when about a week old and when 
found in robins’ nests, much resemble a toad sitting in a hole in a hedgerow bank. 
But, as many readers know, when a young cuckoo can see he raises himself up 
and down, blows himself out, and pecks in a defiant method, apparently to 
frighten off any intruder on his domain. 
Astwood Bank. J. Hi AM. 
A Plague of Blackbirds. — As I sit penning these few notes a blackbird 
comes within about three yards of the window pecking at some half ripe plums. 
About half the crop has already disappeared. The blackbirds have increased to 
such an extent under the Wild Birds Protection Acts, and not taking their eggs, 
that fruit crops of all kinds are devoured to such an extent that it is disheartening 
to try to grow fruit in country places. At our local gardeners’ Society’s meeting 
on Tuesday night the members say they are swarmed with blackbirds and thrushes 
in their allotments and gardens, and it is difficult to grow fruit, and of course 
netting everything is out of the question. 
Astwood Bank. James Hi.am. 
A Blackbird’s Defence. — A pair of blackbirds built in a garden this spring 
in a laurel hedge, and when the young ones were hatched, the cat thought he 
would like to have one for his dinner, — but the old cock bird was too sharp, and 
seeing Mr. Puss approach the nest, flew out on to the back of the intruder, 
whereupon the cat, terribly frightened, turned and fled across the lawn with the 
bird still on his back pecking him, until an open window proved a refuge. The 
bird then left the cat, thinking probably that he had punished his victim enough, 
if one may judge from the noise that was made, and I do not think the cat ever 
again molested the sweet songsters. 
Bournemouth. 
Late Nesting. — The late spring appears to have had an effect upon the 
birds, some of which have continued their breeding far into the summer. On 
[uly I, a thrush was observed sitting on a second brood in the same nest ; the 
young left the nest on the 14th. A few yards off a pair of flycatchers were 
carrying food to their nest as late as July 5. The nest was too far from the 
ground, high up in the fork of a beech tree, for the date of flight to be noted. 
On July I, a pair of wagtails appeared on the lawn, feeding three or four young 
birds, evidently just from the nest. 
W. 
Missel Thrush. — On June 15, a missel thrush was heard and seen (a some- 
what unusual sight here) sitting on an iron fence in the garden, and again on the 
i6th in the same position, at intervals during the day. On the evening of the 
16th it was seen on the lawn accompanied by a single young one, the latter, a 
strong healthy bird, but almost without feathers, and quite unable to fly. On the 
17th and 1 8th the young bird was still in the garden in the long grass, and among 
the flower beds, tended and fed all day long by both the old ones. After this the 
young bird was not again seen, though both the parents were in the neighbour- 
