170 Bird-Song : and New Zealand Song Birds 
cuckoo lays in the nest of a species different from the one 
chosen, it is only because accident has caused there to be no 
nest ready when the egg j s ready. An egg is laid every 
other day, and in the afternoon between 3 o’clock and 6 
o ’clock; other birds lay in the morning. 
The cuckoo was able to visit a nest, remove one of the eoo.s 
lay her own, and be away again in eight seconds. The ego’ 
removed was either eaten on the spot, or taken away and 
eaten at leisure. Most remarkable of all, the pipits did not 
seem to resent the laying of the egg. They made a fuss, but 
it seemed perfunctory, for they did not desert the nest. Some 
of them, on the nest being ready, would actually fly up to the 
watching cuckoo, as if to invite her down. She would fly 
with them, inspect the nest, and later on come and lay her egg 
there. Apparently the pipits knew that she took an egg when 
visiting the nest to lay, for on two occasions when she paid the 
visit but did not lay an egg or remove an egg, the pipits them¬ 
selves removed one. They were able to tell the difference 
between the cuckoo’s egg and their own quite well; for if a 
cuckoo had laid in the nest and the egg were removed and 
another smaller egg substituted, they deserted the nest; 
if another smaller egg were substituted for one of their own, 
however, they did not mind. More, when the young cuckoo 
/ «/ o 
was in the nest, the pipit did not mind when he turned out 
other eggs that might be there. In one instance the mother 
was on the nest when the egg was being turned out;—she 
appeared to raise herself so as to make it easier for the young 
cuckoo to do as he wished. The reason a cuckoo does not lay 
more than one egg in a nest is, of course, because of this seem- 
ingly unnatural habit. One case has been observed where by 
some accident two eggs were laid in one nest; the young 
cuckoos, when hatched, tried to turn each other out, and both 
succeeded! 
Mr. Chance became so familiar with the methodical habits 
of the cuckoo that he was able to say in which nest the next 
egg would be laid; he was even able to send for a cinema man 
to take pictures of the cuckoo entering the nest to lay, and 
