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Professor Newton writes : “ of the assertion that the cuckow (sic) herself takes any 
interest in the future welfare of the egg she has foisted on her victim, or of its 
product, there is no evidence worth a moment’s attention.” J. T. Bird writes of 
“a pair of cuckoos circling round, threatening in violent cuckoo language.” May 
I point out that, unless our books are wrong, the notes of the male and female 
cuckoo are entirely different? If then, these two were using similar language 
they were not “a pair” in the usual sense of the phrase. All of us, I suppose, 
have occasionally heard two male cuckoos scolding at one another ; I have 
fancied that at such times, like other angry people, they sometimes raise the 
pitch of their voices, but in this I speak under correction. I do not think 
any one claims to have seen an old cuckoo feeding a young one, which, I 
submit, is the crucial test of parental solicitude. Maternal love stopping short 
of this would not, it seems to me, benefit the young cuckoo much. 
Otham Parsonage , Maidstone. F. M. Millard. 
369. Red-backed Shrike. — On June 1 a pair were seen at Barmby Moor. 
Morris, in his “ Book of Birds,” says they are rarely seen in the East Riding, 
In 1857 he saw one at Kilnwick Percy, which is only 2J miles from here. 
W. D. Wood-Rees. 
370. Sparrow and Cockchafer. -Near my house I saw a sparrow in- 
dustriously picking at rather a large object, which he several times tried to carry 
out of my reach. I found it to be a cockchafer, still alive, but with all the legs 
eaten off. W. D. Wood-Rees. 
NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES. 
80. Dabchicks. — In a secluded park in Worcestershire this is the second 
summer a brood has been hatched in the same unaltered nest, but the hen now 
has three chicks of about three weeks’ old, and two very tiny ones, probably 
only a few days’ old. Is it a common occurrence for the birds to simultaneously 
rear two broods ? A. C. 
81. Caterpillars and Music. — I have in my bedroom a piano. The 
room is also used by me as a breeding establishment for lepidopterous insects. 
This year I have been rearing Vanessa io and V. urticce, purely for scientific 
interest. They are enclosed in large hat boxes, the lids being replaced by green 
gauze. They had finished all their food plant (white nettle), and the majority 
climbed up to the gauze and there rested quietly. The piano struck up, and 
immediately they fastened their four latter pairs of feet to the gauze and the rest 
of each creature was raised downward, so to speak, as they were inverted. When 
a comparatively low note or chord was struck they swayed or rather jerked to 
and fro, and ultimately apparently lost self-balance and so fell. Can you account 
for this, or have any of your readers observed it? W. E. Avery. 
St. Catherine' s School, Broxbcurne, Herts, 
June 7, 1906. 
82. Geotropic Hyacinth. — Amongst a quantity of hyacinth bulbs I put 
in my garden this year, one was partly scratched up (probably by a cat) just as 
it was putting forth its shoot, and lay on the ground, “sideways.” This 
shoot, then about two inches long, continued to grow, not upward, but into the 
earth. I dug it up and found that it had gone down quite eight inches and had 
blossomed, though not fully ; the stem was short, as well as the flower being 
almost white, somewhat resembling bleached celery in colour. The bulb has 
been in water since I unearthed it, and the stem has now become the same 
colour throughout, whilst the blossom has turned pink, and is daily becoming 
darker. Is this unique ? H. Alex. Dowell. 
